A growing distribution hub anchored by Amazon.com and MedcoHealth Solutions along Interstate 65 in Boone County has inspired plans for an $8 million truck stop and travel plaza.

Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores has acquired 10 acres at the southwest corner of I-65 and Highway 267 in the Whitestown Crossing development. The privately held truck-stop operator plans to break ground in May on a facility slated to include fuel services, a retail store and McDonald's and Subway restaurants.

The sale is a big boost to the 100-acre Whitestown Crossing project and developer Valenti-Held. The Whitestown-based company began buying the properties for the project in the 1980s, after the company moved its headquarters to the adjacent Perry Industrial Park.

Valenti-Held hopes to sell the remaining parcels for hotels, restaurants, retail or office uses, said Brett R. Burch, the listing broker and a vice president for Valenti Real Estate Services Inc. A selling point is its location about 20 minutes from downtown and from the Indianapolis International Airport.

Plus, the site sits across I-65 from the disribution portion of Anson, locally based Duke Realty Corp.'s 1,700-acre master-planned residential, office, retail and industrial development.

Anson's 600-acre industrial portion called Allpoints—a joint venture of Duke and locally based Browning Investments—features heavyweights MedcoHealth and Amazon.com, which just expanded by 405,000 square feet.

Duke and Browning have designed another 525,000-square-foot building and are looking for a tenant, and have room for another 6 million square feet of distribution space, said Charlie Podell, Duke's senior vice president for Indiana.

Whitestown Crossing should be more of a complementary project than a competitor to Anson, said Tom Dickey, a Duke vice president and Anson's general manager.

"We think it's good for the area," Dickey said. "Development in the area is good for Boone County and will add value to what we're doing."

Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores has 265 locations in the United States and eight Indiana centers, including in Whiteland and Pittsboro. It was ranked 18th on the most recent Forbes magazine list of America's largest privately held companies.