After more than 460 days of deliberation, the City of Noblesville and IDI Composites have reached an agreement on the company’s location in Noblesville. \
IDI Composites, a premier global custom formulator and manufacturer of thermoset molding compounds and composites for OEMs, Tier 1s and molders, is at 407 S. Seventh St. The most recent alignment of the Pleasant Street Project, a years-long plan to help divert traffic from Ind. 32 through downtown Noblesville, is expected to pass through IDI Composite’s southern parking lot.
IDI Composites will relocate to Washington Business Park, northeast of Ind. 37 and 146th Street. IDI Composites will invest $24.3 million in a new, 121,000-square-foot manufacturing facility. Noblesville will invest $3.5 million into the facility, offer real and personal property tax abatements and purchase IDI Composite’s current building.
Noblesville Mayor Chris Jensen said the location could be redeveloped but he isn’t sure what it might look like.
“This has been a project talked about for decades, and it’s very complex,” Jensen said. “Any time you’re adding new a corridor or a new roadway near a downtown, there’s going to be tough conversations to be had. Certainly, the impact to IDI was unexpected.”
The original alignment for the corridor was shifted to the north because of the Plum Prairie Historic District, which was listed to the National Register of Historical Places in 2019.
“We originally thought IDI could’ve stayed and operated, but they felt otherwise,” Jensen said.
Jensen said the city’s No. 1 goal was to keep IDI Composites in Noblesville.
“Mayor Jensen and his administration have demonstrated that keeping our company in Noblesville was a priority by coming to the table with solutions-based proposals,” IDI Composites CEO Tom Merrell said. “While this is a change for us, we are excited to announce this project and continue to invest in the city that we love.”
Jensen said he wasn’t sure when IDI Composites would open in its new location.
