LOWELL, Ind. — The Interstate 65 corridor through Lake County is turning into a stack of million-square-foot warehouses, and the newest name on the map is John Deere — a $125 million parts distribution center sized to put about 150 permanent jobs next to the interstate between Lowell and Hebron.
The Times of Northwest Indiana has documented the same pattern at Amazon’s Mississippi Street fulfillment building in Merrillville and at least one other 1-million-square-foot shed along I-65. Don Babcock, Purdue University Northwest’s director of economic development and community relations, told The Times the scale itself is new. “We thought half a million square feet was out of the park,” Babcock said. “Now we’re getting these projects that are more than 1 million square feet. It’s a herd mentality. It’s economies of scale. It’s proving the market. It’s communities working today.”
Amazon’s Merrillville box reset the local record. Randy Palmateer, business manager of the Northwestern Indiana Building and Construction Trades Council, told The Times it is the largest single building ever constructed in Lake County — steel mills are campuses, not one roof — and that the project employed around 500 construction workers. The Deere job, Palmateer said in March, will employ at least that many tradespeople while the shell goes up.
Figure — I-65 boxes
| Project | Size / site | Jobs (official) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| John Deere, Lowell–Hebron | 1.2 million sq ft; $125M; 234 acres off I-65 | ~150 permanent, above county average | Indiana / Braun Jan. 27 |
| Amazon, Mississippi St., Merrillville | ~1 million sq ft | ~400–500 construction (build) | Times |
| Holladay, AmeriPlex at the Port | 576,000 sq ft | — | Times / Babcock |
| Coldwell 2024 land notice (Deere) | same Lowell site | 400–500 FT claimed; ~1,200 construction | IIB — not the state figure |
What Deere is building
Braun’s office confirmed the Jan. 27 groundbreaking. The hub will ship parts to U.S. dealers in agriculture, turf, construction, forestry, and mining. The state’s permanent-job number is about 150. A 2024 Coldwell Banker land notice had put full-time hiring much higher; that is not the figure Deere and the state are using now.
“Indiana’s strong workforce and central location make it an ideal choice for expansion,” Denver Caldwell, Deere’s vice president of aftermarket and customer support, said in the state release.
Braun tied the project to Indiana’s Crossroads pitch. Lake County Councilwoman Christine Cid, D-5th, said the building will widen the commercial tax base along I-65 and, once open, “provide good-paying jobs.”
Incentives (state release)
- IEDC: up to $2.5 million, performance-based tax credits (paid after spend and hires)
- Lake County: additional local incentives
The Times’ March 18 package put the site on 181st Avenue near I-65, with preliminary dirt work already under way. Palmateer said the $125 million job will need a deep bench of skilled trades. Deere, a Fortune 100 company based in Moline, Illinois, has pledged $20 billion of U.S. manufacturing investment over the next decade, including this shed.
Why the corridor matters
Northwest Indiana already moves steel, grain, and fuel. The new boxes are a different mix: e-commerce and OEM parts on interstate land. Before Amazon, Babcock told The Times the Region’s largest single roof was a 576,000-square-foot Holladay warehouse at AmeriPlex at the Port — until Amazon and now Deere reset the tape.