Pace planning 200-acre life-science business park by airport

Plainfield-based Pace Property Holding LLC is acquiring land just west of Indianapolis International Airport with plans to develop a 200-acre life-science business park.

The as-yet-unnamed development would be located just east of Ronald Reagan Parkway and south of U.S. 40 in the town of Plainfield. It would include the current headquarters of Pace Air Freight Inc., which is located at 3345 E. Main St.

“We’re excited about it,” said Cindy Ward, Pace Air Freight’s chief financial officer.

Pace Air Freight’s owner and president, Robert Pfeffer Sr., is also the owner of Pace Property Holding.

Established in 1975, Pace Air Freight specializes in truck transport of pharmaceutical products. In addition to its headquarters, it has operations near O’Hare International Airport in Chicago; the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport; and Louisville International Airport.

Ward said Pace Property Holding is in the early stages of forming a team to develop the life science park. The first phase of construction—building the roads that would run through the property—is expected to begin in the next six to nine months.

Organizers haven’t yet started recruiting potential tenants, Ward said, but the park could house a variety of types of companies, including pharmaceutical manufacturers and disease researchers.

It could take five to seven years to totally develop the site, Ward said. The firm does not yet have an estimate for the total cost of the project.

Pace Property Holding already owns some of the land it needs for the business park, and it’s in the process of acquiring the rest of it.

On Friday, the Indianapolis Airport Authority approved the sale of 48 acres to Pace for $2.2 million. The land is on the east side of County Road 1050 East, about a quarter-mile south of U.S. 40.

After this, Ward said, Pace plans to make one more land purchase—another parcel currently owned by the airport.