GREENWOOD, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) — Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria will Saturday open its fourth central Indiana location in Greenwood. The Chicago-based company says it is still hiring for the new location with the goal of having 50 employees.
The 1,400-square-foot pizzeria is located at 791 State Road 135 N in Greenwood and will open at 4 p.m. on Saturday. The location does not include a dining room, but will offer carryout, delivery and drop-off catering.
“We’re excited to bring our authentic Chicago-style deep dish pizza to the south side of Indianapolis,” Lou Malnati’s owner Marc Malnati said in written remarks. “Our loyal fan base has been instrumental in helping us expand and our team is thrilled to become part of the vibrant and thriving Greenwood community.”
The Greenwood location follows three others that have opened over the past two years, including one in Carmel and two in Indianapolis.
A fifth Lou Malnati’s location is planned to open in Avon this fall.
GREENWOOD, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) — Greenwood Mayor Mark Myers will join other community Friday to cut the ribbon on the Greenwood Fieldhouse. The 65,000-square-foot recreational facility is the anchor for the redevelopment of the former Greenwood Middle School site, which has been nearly a decade in the making.
The fieldhouse incorporates the former school’s gymnasium, which is the only part of the school that remains standing after demolition began in 2019.
The new facility at 411 South Madison Avenue will feature an elevated indoor running and walking track, two multi-purpose turf fields for soccer, lacrosse, and several other sports, basketball/volleyball courts and indoor pickle ball courts.
The ribbon cutting is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.
The city is also in the midst of construction on the $83 million mixed-used development on the school site known as The Madison, which broke ground in November. When complete, the project will span seven structures that include residential space and 18,000 square feet of commercial space.
GREENWOOD, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) – Chicago-based Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria is planning to open its fourth central Indiana location. The popular deep dish pizzeria is expected to open its Greenwood location in the Shops at Smith Valley this summer.
Malnati’s says it will hire about 50 employees for the new pizzeria and plans to host a hiring event to fill the open positions in the coming months.
Construction is set to begin this spring on the 1,400-square-foot space, which will not include a dining room, but will offer carryout, delivery and drop-off catering services. The menu will feature deep dish pizza, as well as thin crust pizza, appetizers, salads, pastas and desserts.
“Since our first location opened in the greater Indianapolis-area, we’ve been welcomed with Hoosier hospitality and are so grateful to our loyal fan base who have been instrumental in helping us expand our footprint,” said Marc Malnati, owner of Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria. “Our team is excited to bring our authentic Chicago-style deep dish pizza to Greenwood and become immersed in the growing community.”
The pizzeria opened its Carmel location in 2020 and its Indianapolis and Broad Ripple locations in 2021.
GREENWOOD, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) – Seymour-based JCBank is planning to open a new banking center in Greenwood’s Swartz Crossing Development. The bank says the nearly 5,000-square-foot branch location will be its 12th branch in the state and first in Johnson County.
In addition to personal banking services, the banking center will feature commercial and mortgage lending, as well as wealth management services. JCBank says it plans to support the growth with its wealth management and mortgage divisions.
“We appreciate the confidence the community has placed in our dedicated team and in our approach to banking, allowing us to expand our investment with the construction of this banking center,” JCBank President Marvin Veatch said in a news release. “In the midst of the larger regional banks closing their branch facilities and placing less emphasis on in-person banking services, the JCBank team is devoted to carrying out its relationship-centric and customer-focus approach.”
The branch is expected to open by the end of the year.
JCBank has multiple branches in Seymour, North Vernon, Bedford, Bloomington, Brownstown and Columbus.
WHITELAND, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) — The Whiteland Town Council has approved a tax abatement for a 450,000-square-foot speculative warehouse building. Our partners at the Daily Journal report Cincinnati-based Uptown Commercial Partners plans to invest nearly $29 million to build the facility on a 40-acre site.
The property is the former home of Maschmeyer’s Nursery and was rezoned last year from agriculture to industrial. The publication says the 10-year real property tax abatement will save the developer more than $4 million.
An attorney representing Uptown Commercial Partners told the council the developer does not have any tenants under contract, but several companies have expressed interest in the facility.
According to documents filed with the town, construction is expected to begin in May and be complete by next spring.
The Daily Journal reports the tenant selected for the facility could make an estimated $10 million in additional investment to suit the building to its needs.
GREENWOOD, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) — Center Grove Community School Corp. in Greenwood will Thursday cut the ribbon on the new Center Grove Emergency Operations Center. The district says the center facilitates collaboration to increase public safety for its schools and the surrounding community.
The facility will serve as the headquarters and a live monitoring space for the Center Grove Police Department. Additionally, it includes Station 254, a full-service fire station shared between the White River Township and Bargersville fire departments.
The Johnson County Sheriff’s Department will also operate a satellite office at the center.
The Emergency Operations Center is located at 2309 S. Morgantown Rd. in Greenwood. The ribbon cutting and open house is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Thursday.
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indiana could become the 10th state to ban transgender students from participating in school sports that align with their gender identities.
The proposed legislation is House Bill 1041 and would also allow parents to file a complaint against schools who go against the ban.
State Rep. Michelle Davis, a Republican from Whiteland, wrote the bill. The Johnson County legislator says the bill is a way to protect Hoosier girl athletes.
Opponents say this is another example of discriminatory legislation targeting trans youth. “Trans youth in Indiana feel that every single year the lawmakers single them out for bullying them for political purposes,” said Kit Malone, advocacy strategist with the ACLU of Indiana.
Malone called this bill another attack on already vulnerable youths. “We do not have examples of trans girls coming into school sports and then taking them over.”
The bill would also require schools to establish procedures for parents to file a grievance against schools who violate the measure, resulting in another student losing out on an athletic opportunity, or is injured.
Davis sent a statement to News 8:
“This legislation is the result of listening to the concerns of female student athletes and parents in my district and across the state. The purpose of this bill is to protect fair competition in girls’ sports.”
She said as a former NCAA Division I athlete: “I know the life lessons and opportunities competing in sports provided to me while growing up and as a young adult. This bill is aimed at protecting those same opportunities for Hoosier girls now and in the future.”
Indiana state Rep. Michelle Davis, a Republican from Whiteland, wrote the bill. She says the bill is a way to protect Hoosier girl athletes.
Malone said moving forward with this type of legislation doesn’t solve a problem. “Trans children deserve scholarships, too. The idea that we are somehow less deserving of scholastic achievement and we are less deserving of participation in our schools that’s the definition of discriminatory.”
Opponents plan to rally Monday morning at the statehouse Monday morning ahead of a House Education Committee hearing. House Bill 1041 bill will be the one of three scheduled to be discussed and perhaps voted on at the committee meeting starting at 8:30 a.m. in the House of Representatives chamber.
FRANKLIN, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) — Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) is adding to its footprint in Johnson County. The e-commerce giant is planning to open a 510,000-square-foot sorting center in Franklin later this year and create hundreds of jobs.
The company did not immediately state how much it is investing in the facility. The sorting center will be located inside a building developed by Sunbeam Development Corp.
Amazon plans to add a variety of jobs at the facility, though a specific number was not disclosed. The jobs include receiving, sorting and shipping, and network logistics support.
“Our ability to expand Indiana operations is the result of two things: incredible customers and a world-class workforce in the state,” Kyle DeGiulio, regional economic development manager at Amazon, said in a news release. “Since we started fulfilling customer orders in Indiana, we’ve been able to build up an amazing team of dedicated employees who now earn an average of $18 an hour and receive industry-leading benefits with opportunities for growth, advancement and post-secondary education.”
Amazon is no stranger to the county, having opened an $80 million fulfillment center in Greenwood in 2019. Late last year, the company opened a 100,000-square-foot mini fulfillment center in Greenwood as well.
“I am proud to welcome Amazon to our beautiful city. This is great news for Franklin and the entire state of Indiana, as Amazon continues to invest in the local market,” Franklin Mayor Steve Barnett said. “We’re thrilled Amazon has chosen the Sunbeam Development location to expand their operation and we look forward to many partnerships in the future.”
Inside INdiana Business has reached out to the city and Amazon for more information on the project.
GREENWOOD, Ind. (WISH) — Surveillance video shows the moment two thieves break into a Greenwood home.
Local police departments typically see a rise in thefts around the holidays, but one department says this year is different.
It wasn’t until their daughter got off the bus and found their house in disarray that a Greenwood family realized their home had been broken into. Luckily, they had a camera inside their home that caught the thieves in action.
Sure enough they see two men breaking in through a back window and rummaging through their home. The homeowner says the thieves broke in around 1:30 in the afternoon while the family was out and stole money, purses and luggage.
Investigations Commander Damian Katt with the Johnson County Sheriff’s Department said, “Normally, we do tend to see a spike in daytime burglaries — the porch pirates — and just theft in general and we have really not seen an influx. We are kind of down a little bit, and gratefully.”
The family made a police report, but the Grinches that tried to steal their Christmas still haven’t been caught.
“When people are talking about traveling through the holidays and maybe going to visit family out of town or on the other side of town for that matter there are some really pretty easy things to do,” Katt said.
Experts recommend:
- Having a trustworthy neighbor keep an eye on your house,
- Make sure your mail doesn’t fill up in the box indicating that you are not home.
- If possible, have some kind of security system in place.
“Thieves are looking for a quick, easy target. Security lights or security cameras make it less easy,” Katt said.
Katt says the reason his department isn’t seeing theft cases jump as they usually do this time of year may partially be due to the coronavirus pandemic keeping people home more than usual, giving thieves less of a window to attack. Even if you’re not home, Katt says, it’s best to make it look like someone is.
“Making sure that you are not advertising that we are gone for even a couple hours really,” Katt said.
Police are also reminding motorists not to keep anything visible in their vehicles that may tempt a thief to break in, and make sure doors on the car are locked at all times.
GREENWOOD, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) — Amazon has opened a new mini fulfillment center in Greenwood. Our partners at the Daily Journal report the 100,000-square-foot building is designed to provide faster delivery speeds for customers.
The facility, which is about one-tenth the size of a traditional Amazon fulfillment center, could provide delivery for Amazon Prime customers as quickly as five hours from purchase, according to the publication.
The mini fulfillment center employs hundreds of full-time and part-time workers, though a specific number was not provided. The company says it also offers opportunities for Amazon Flex drivers, who use their own vehicles to deliver packages.
In 2019, Amazon opened an $80 million, 615,000-square-foot receive center in Greenwood, an effort the online retailer said would create more than 1,200 jobs.