Sara Lee Corp. has signed a lease for about 281,000 square feet of space at Plainfield Business Center at Airwest.

The Illinois-based maker of food products will establish a new distribution center in the space in February, according to a press release from Opus Development Corp., a Minnesota-based real estate firm that has been building out the Plainfield Business Center since the mid-1990s.

Sara Lee will fill the remaining space in Building 9 of the business center, the most recent one built. The center development includes 6 million square feet of space near Interstate 70 and Indianapolis International Airport.

In the transaction, Indianapolis-based Summit Reality Group represented Opus Development. Sara Lee was represented by CB Richard Ellis and Colliers International.

According to Summit Realty’s Andrew Morris, there is a shortage in the Indianapolis-area of available industrial space, which will make it challenging for new and expanding users to find space. He expects rents to rise this year and even foresees a return of speculative industrial development late this year or in 2012.