A distribution company plans to lease much of an empty warehouse in suburban Indianapolis and potentially hire 140 workers.

Illinois-based Caterpillar Logistics Services has told Greenwood officials that it plans to open the distribution center in December.

Company spokeswoman Linda Fairbanks told The Daily Journal of Franklin that the exact number of jobs at the warehouse haven't been finalized.

The company is a division of construction equipment maker Caterpillar Inc., which has a factory in Franklin and a warehouse in Greenwood. Johnson County Economic Development Corp. President Cheryl Morphew said the new warehouse is unrelated to those facilities.

Morphew says Caterpillar Logistics will lease at least half of a 668,000-square-foot warehouse that has been empty since it was built four years ago.

Caterpillar plans to hire mostly warehouse workers at an average wage of $13 an hour, not including benefits, Morphew said.