Sunbeam Development Corporation is seeking to add 56 more acres to its already massive 491-acre planned Interstate 65 Commerce Park in Franklin.
The developer has slowly amassed its current count of 491 acres over the course of 2020, as more landowners agreed to sell their land. If Sunbeam’s current request to annex 56 acres into Franklin and rezone the property for light industrial is approved by city council, the park will grow to 547 acres.
The 56 acres is contiguous to the 491 acres that has already been purchased by Sunbeam and annexed into the city along State Road 44, east of I-65. The land is sandwiched between the 40-family Nyberg subdivision and land that was rezoned to light industrial last month for Franklin Tech Park.
Sunbeam, which has offices in Fishers and Florida, has developed thousands of acres in central Indiana, including a collaboration with Franklin Tech Park for Johnson County’s first million square foot building, which was developed for Energizer.
The new acreage would be added to Sunbeam’s current plans to develop the land into buildings ranging in size from 500,000 to one million square feet in the area, said Max Mouser, a site developer working with Sunbeam. The site plans are still in the works for the full development, but an initial plan for 213 acres of the development envisioned four buildings from 675,000 to 1.2 million square feet.
The first building in the commerce park is already complete but work hasn’t started yet on the rest of the development. That first building is 519,728 square feet and a tenant hasn’t been announced yet.
The Franklin Plan Commission voted 7-2 on Tuesday to send both the annexation and rezone to the city council with a favorable recommendation.
The rezone was approved with several conditions aimed to shield nearby residents from lights and noise from the development. This includes a five foot high undulating mound and two rows of trees, one at the property line and one on top of the mound. The mound being required is two feet higher than what is required by the city’s zoning ordinance.
Sunbeam also committed to limit entrances to the park to SR 44 and Jim Black Road and to never create an entrance from Upper Shelbyville Road. An entrance from that road would have run behind the homes in the eastern part of the subdivision, which connects to Upper Shelbyville Road.
About 11 nearby residents and four people from the Nyberg subdivision pleaded with the plan commission to consider giving the project an unfavorable recommendation.
Melody Miller, who says her family has owned property in the area for 100 years, pleaded with the plan commission to put the brakes on further development. With the development, Miller’s view behind her home in the subdivision would be a warehouse, she said.
“These are homes we have put our blood, sweat and tears into for hundreds of years. We are not just talking overnight. We are pleading with you to say enough is enough,” Miller said. “Give us some hope that we have a voice. Please listen to us. We live here because we want a rural community.”
Like remonstrators against previous rezones east of I-65, nearby residents were also concerned about lighting, noise, traffic and the ruination of their rural lifestyle. They were also concerned about property values and keeping their wells intact.
Those residents may still have some hope that their concerns will be heard.
For the Franklin Tech Park annexation and rezone to the south, the city council voted unanimously for the annexation but were split 4-3 for the rezone. The plan commission had forwarded that proposal to the council with no recommendation.
The current Sunbeam annexation and rezoning proposal will come before the city council for introduction only on July 19, with a public hearing to take place on Aug. 2.
Right now two other projects are under construction east of I-65.
Franklin Tech Park and Aisin USA Manufacturing are doubling the size of Aisin’s logistics center from 149,000 square feet to 299,000 square feet.
A 949,000 square foot building is also under construction next door to Aisin. The project was approved for Indianapolis-based GDI Construction, but Atlanta-based Core 5 Industrial Partners is now marketing the site.
