Developer plans medical complex, hotel, restaurants off I-65

An Indianapolis-based developer is seeking approval for a 25-acre development in a high-profile location in Lebanon that would contain a hotel, medical office complex and multiple restaurants and shops.

Lebanon Mayor Matthew Gentry called the Lebanon Gateway Marketplace project proposed by KennMar LLC a "significant development" for the Boone County city.

The location will be hard to miss, as the development is proposed near the southeast corner of the interchange between Interstate 65 and State Road 32, at 1515 W. South St.—a key entry into Lebanon.

The Lebanon Plan Commission is expected to review plans for the project at its June 18 meeting.

Design plans call for seven separate lots. The largest would include a medical building or buildings, to be built on a 40,000-square-foot footprint on eight acres at the southeast corner of the property near Ransdell Road.  

Joe LePage, Lebanon's communications and community development director, said in an email that medical portion could consist of several buildings of at least four stories, to be replicated on the site as needed.

"As far as specific medical providers, I can't get specific," LePage wrote. "But a local medical provider, with a significant footprint in Lebanon and Boone County, is very interested in growing into the space."

That description would fit Witham Health Services, which is based in Lebanon and operates a 70-bed hospital in the city and several other facilities in the county.

A hotel with an 11,000-square-foot footprint is planned for a 12-acre site on the northwest quadrant of the campus. It would join several other lodging options at the interchange, including a Holiday Inn Express, Econo Lodge, Quality Inn & Suites, America’s Best Value Inn and Motel 6.

Five smaller buildings with footprints of 2,800 square feet to 6,000 square feet also are proposed for the site to offer space for at least three restaurants, a store and bank, according to the plans.

KennMar, founded in December 2016, is headed by Brent Benge, the former CEO of Indianapolis-based Paradigm Real Estate Investments LLC, which is no longer in business. Paradigm developed the Speedway Marketplace hotel and retail project and was involved in other development projects in Speedway and Greenwood.

Benge did not return phone calls seeking comment on the Lebanon project.

The site was previously used by filter manufacturer Parker Hannifin Corp., which moved to Intech Park in Indianapolis in 2006. It contains two existing buildings containing of 67,000 square feet and 47,000 square feet that would need to be demolished. The property was recently listed for nearly $3.5 million.