Manufacturing News
October 1, 2026
October 1, 2026 · Bartholomew County · Dearborn County · Monroe County · Story 2 of 4
Duke Energy Indiana Adds Three Sites, One Already Has a Likely Tenant
Duke Energy Indiana added three properties to its 2026 Site Readiness Program: up to 68 acres in Taylorsville, Bartholomew County; the I-74 Alig Site in St. Leon, Dearborn County; and 87 acres of I-69 frontage in Bloomington, Monroe County. Duke says the program has now prepared 53 properties and landed 32 projects worth close to $15 billion.
The Taylorsville site sits next to Irresistible Foods Group's Grillo's Pickles and King's Hawaiian plants, and IFG says it is building in phases. That makes IFG itself the more likely first tenant on that parcel, not a new employer entering the market. Heavy trucks also can't reach the site easily until READI-funded road work at US-31 and Bear Lane and County Road 700 North is finished, work backed by a grant of up to $1 million. If you're weighing an expansion site, Taylorsville raises a fair question: is it smarter to build next to an anchor tenant's existing infrastructure than to build standalone.
- Impact
- IFG's own leadership has described building its 88-acre King's Hawaiian campus 'in phases,' raising a question The Republic's coverage never asks: is IFG itself (via sister brands like Killer Brownie Company or Innovation Bakers) the most likely tenant for these Duke-marketed parcels? If so, the national marketing push may be validating land already earmarked for a known occupant rather than genuinely competing for new-to-market employers, and the real gating item is a modest up-to-$1 million READI 2.0 grant for road work at US-31/Bear Lane and CR 700N.
- Impact
- Duke Energy Indiana's Site Readiness Program is a structural competitive moat against rival utilities: AES Indiana spent 'over $1 million' on economic development broadly in 2025 with no comparable structured site pipeline, and CenterPoint Energy in southwest Indiana has no published equivalent. That means counties inside Duke's 69-county, 23,000-square-mile territory get pre-vetted, nationally marketed shovel-ready sites before competing utility territories can even present an option to a site selector.
- Watch
- Whether IFG or an outside food/CPG prospect is the first to announce on the Duke-marketed Taylorsville parcels, and completion of the READI 2.0-funded intersection and road extension that currently constrains heavy truck access.
- Watch
- Whether AES Indiana or CenterPoint Energy announce a comparable site-readiness program in response, and any 2027 additions to Duke's prepared-site inventory.
- For the huddle
Where are Duke Energy Indiana's new 2026 Site Readiness Program sites located?
The three new sites are in Taylorsville in Bartholomew County, St. Leon in Dearborn County, and Bloomington in Monroe County, and the Taylorsville parcel sits next to IFG's existing Grillo's Pickles and King's Hawaiian plants.
From the brief, October 1, 2026
- Nucor Vulcraft Steel Grating Expansion Points to Margin Pressure, Not New Demand
- Duke Energy Indiana Adds Three Sites, One Already Has a Likely Tenant
- AES Indiana Ownership Fight Reaches FERC With a Rate Case Still Pending
- Indiana, Ohio Named NSF 'Regional Innovation Engine' Manufacturing Award Winners
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