(La Porte, IN) - Ground was broken Monday on a 150,000 square foot industrial building to house companies wanting to operate in La Porte.

The metal panel structure to offer space for leasing at the Thomas Rose Industrial Park is designed to be doubled in size if needed.  Construction should be completed in the summer, said Bert Cook, Executive Director of the La Porte Economic Advancement Partnership.  "We’ll continue to market this over the next few months, and by the time the building is constructed, we’d love to see tenants in place,” he said.

Mayor Tom Dermody said the facility solves the city's problem of not having existing industrial space suitable for companies wanting to come here.  "Obviously, people want businesses here.  People want jobs, and if you don’t have a place to put them, they’re not going to come.  Now, they’ll have that opportunity,” Dermody said.

Dermody said the city has already received interest from companies for such a facility.  The building is going up on 23 acres.

The property is owned by Qualls Development Group, which already leases space to companies at four different locations in La Porte, Rolling Prairie, and Knox.