King’s Hawaiian eyes central Indiana for massive production campus

Los Angeles-area-based King’s Hawaiian—a company well-known for its sweet rolls—is planning to build a 532,000-square-foot food and beverage production campus in Edinburgh, about 37 miles south of Indianapolis.

The Republic reports the company is seeking variances for the project, which would be built at 11900 N. County Road 200W on a nearly 90-acre site near the Indiana Premium Outlets shopping center.

King’s Hawaiian Chief Operations Officer Joe Leonardo says the company did an “exhaustive” search for a location and is excited to come to the region.

“I led the search for the location, and we looked all over the Midwest and landed in the Columbus area because of the community and the interaction and the manufacturing,” Leonardo told the publication. “We just found it exactly like it’s home for us.”

The development, known as “Project Whiteboard,” would include a 368,000-square-foot main manufacturing plant, a 78,000-square-foot cold storage building and an 86,000-square-foot beverage plant. The facilities would be built in stages.

The company is seeking a height variance for the primary structure, which would be 100 feet tall. The other variance request is related to maximum wall sign sizes, according to The Republic.

Greater Columbus Economic Development Corp. President Jason Hester told the publication that more information on the project, such as investment and job numbers, will be revealed when the company applies for incentives for the project.

The Bartholomew County Board of Zoning Appeals is slated to hear the variance requests at its meeting on Monday evening.

King’s Hawaiian announced in November that it planned to spend $85 million to expand its existing operations in Oakwood, Georgia, with a 150,000-square-foot bakery, creating 160 jobs.

Early last year, the company also acquired Hawaii-based beverage brand Shaka Tea.

Robert Taira founded the bakery company, then called Robert’s Bakery, in Hilo, Hawaii in 1950. In 1963, the company moved to Honolulu and changed its name to King’s Bakery. The company expanded to the mainland United States in 1977 by opening a bakery, King’s Hawaiian Bakery, in Torrance, California.