nGenX Corporation, sister company of Cinergy MetroNet, Inc. and Norlight, Inc., announces the opening of three data centers in the cities of Indianapolis, IN; Lafayette, IN; and Louisville, KY. This expands the company’s data center footprint from two to five data centers in the Midwest.

As part of this expansion effort, nGenX’s new data centers will support collocation customers who require a public data center solution for outsourcing servers or other information technology equipment. nGenX utilizes its two existing SAS 70, Type II certified data centers in Evansville, Indiana and Brookfield, Wisconsin to host its Cloud Computing services and for colocation. All five nGenX data centers are ringed with Ethernet connectivity for high-availability and disaster recovery.
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Indiana could share in $75 million in federal funds to help clean up waterways, but local farmers, producer associations and governments need to get their applications filed before a May 3 deadline.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture money will go to projects that cut the amount of nutrients entering waterways in dozens of watersheds. The agency expects to award about $320 million for such projects over the next four years.

Indiana’s five eligible watersheds are the Eel River, the Upper East Fork of the White River, Wildcat Creek, the upper Wabash River, Vermillion River and upper Great Miami River.

Indiana legislators made little progress Monday in reaching a deal to delay an increase in the unemployment tax.

CVS continues to expand in the Evansville area.

Video management systems developer Exacq Technologies, Inc., plans to expand its Fishers headquarters, creating up to 49 new jobs by 2013.

Exacq Technologies develops software systems that manage video surveillance for stand alone applications and multi-branch sites including universities, banks, retail stores, corporate facilities, airports and private residences. The technology developer plans to invest $1.1 million to lease additional space at its current 10,000 square-foot Exit Five Parkway facility in Fishers.
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Aisin Chemical Indiana LLC, (ACIN) a manufacturer of components and materials for the automotive industry, announced today that it will expand its Crothersville operations, creating up to 37 new jobs by 2013.

The company, which manufactures friction material components used in automatic transmissions, along with liquid applied sound dampening material used in vehicles to reduce noise and vibration, will invest more than $9 million by the end of 2011 to construct a new 72,000 square-foot manufacturing facility adjacent to its current operations. Aisin will use the additional space to expand production of its Liquid Applied Sound Dampening product line.
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Hoosier Park and Casino’s owners have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in order to reorganize their finances.

Centaur LLC says normal operations will continue at Hoosier Park in Anderson and Fortune Valley Hotel & Casino in Central City, Colo., despite Sunday’s filing. The Indianapolis-based company said it would also continue work on its Valley View Downs & Casino projects near New Castle, Pa.

Hoosier Park general manager Jim Brown says Centaur’s casinos are healthy businesses, but it has struggled to make debt payments.

Centaur last October missed a $13.4 million payment due on more than $400 million in debt. The company borrowed heavily to pay for a $250 million state license fee and $150 million in upgrades to open the Hoosier Park casino in 2008.

A wastewater treatment plant in Tipton County has been completed despite a year’s worth of delays.

Randolph County residents are not happy about rumors of a carbon dioxide sequestration facility in their area.

A look at the ups and downs of corporate tax breaks.

Stimulus funds are speeding work at the Terre Haute International Airport.

s2f worldwide, LLC, a startup provider of supply chain and logistics services, announced today that it will establish its headquarters and distribution operations in Plainfield, creating 250 new jobs by 2013.

The company, which offers a range of transportation management, warehousing and distribution services, will invest $10.8 million to lease and equip a 200,000 square-foot distribution center and office building near the Indianapolis International Airport. s2f, a Minority Business Enterprise, will serve customers in the automotive, life sciences, telecommunications and retail markets, among others.
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The national unemployment rate held steady at 9.7% in February. However, a Purdue economist predicts that it will be three to four years before employment falls to pre-recession levels.

[Purdue economist Larry] DeBoer said consumer spending in the United States is being held back by the 10 percent unemployment rate. The economy grew 5.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009. Economists question whether that growth rate can be sustained.

“Even at 5.9 percent, the unemployment rate would only come down from about 10 percent to about 8.5 percent by the end of the year,” DeBoer said. “This tells me we have at best three or four years before we get unemployment back down to 5 percent — where it was at the beginning of the recession.”

An increase in consumer spending would help decrease the unemployment rate, but with unemployment being what it is, consumers are not spending, DeBoer said.

DeBoer said the Federal stimulus package has played a role in keeping the unemployment rate lower than what it could have been.

“The whole idea behind stimulus is to step in temporarily, fill in the hole and add to the spending. There’s no doubt that the spending from the stimulus package has kept the unemployment rate from going up more than it would have,” he said. “Without the stimulus, the unemployment rate might have been 11 or 12 percent instead of 10 percent.”

Tipton County is in the process of creating an economic development commission.

Three Indiana companies were ranked among the most-admired by Fortune magazine, while Bloomburg BusinessWeek named Fishers the nation’s best affordable suburb.

An Indianapolis television station looks at how many jobs promised by companies moving to or expanding in Indiana actually happen.

Finally, on a lighter note, a new Indiana University study finds that Hoosiers differ on what constitutes having sex.

Dow AgroSciences announced plans yesterday for a multi-year expansion of its global headquarters in northwest Indianapolis. The company will invest more than $340 million and add more than 550 scientific and commercial jobs over the next five years.

The first phase in the multi-year expansion plan includes the construction of a 175,000-square-foot research and development building, as well as a 14,000-square-foot greenhouse on the company’s corporate campus. These facilities are part of a global growth plan for Dow AgroSciences’ research efforts as it develops and commercializes new product solutions for customers in agricultural and related market segments.
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Medline Industries Inc., an Illinois-based manufacturer and distributor of medical equipment and supplies, has established a distribution center in Plainfield, creating 50 new jobs.

The company, which produces and distributes health care supplies and equipment to hospitals, nursing homes, home health providers and surgery centers, has leased a 180,000 square-foot facility near the Indianapolis International Airport.
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Elkhart was the top destination for new corporate investment in 2009 among metropolitan areas with populations less than 200,000, according to data tracked in Conway Data Inc.’s New Plant Database.

Fort Wayne tied for 8th place among metropolitan areas with populations ranging from 200,000 to 1 million. In the state category, Indiana ranked 10th. Conway Data published the 2009 results to its annual Governor’s Cup awards in Site Selection, a corporate real estate and economic development magazine.
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