It’s just fencing, but … work starts at $3.87B SK hynix site
Meanwhile, lawsuits trying to stop project. Plus, court OKs delay in Delphi murders appeal response. Hearing set on American Suburban rate hike. Pushback on alleged ‘unwritten policy' at Purdue.
Support for this edition comes from Food Finders Food Bank. Since 1981, Food Finders has been a critical component in providing food to those in need and advocating to end food insecurity. In our 16-county service area, one in seven people face hunger. And the risk of hunger is more likely to affect households with children. Here’s how you can help Food Finders meet this mission.
IT’S JUST FENCING, BUT … WORK STARTS AT SK HYNIX SITE: On cue Monday morning, crews from Crider and Crider Contractors were pounding stakes into the ground and plotting lines for fence posts along Yeager Road and north of Kalberer Road, as work started at the 133-acre site of SK hynix’s $3.87 billion semiconductor facility in West Lafayette.
The move fit a timeline laid out in early February by Choonhwan Kim, head of Global Infrastructure for the South Korean company and recently appointed by the South Korean company to oversee a project to build a high-bandwidth memory assembly and R&D facility at the site.
Grading work is expected to start March 2, Kim said in early February. That timetable was backed by a notice filed Feb. 6 in Tippecanoe Circuit Court, where a pair of lawsuits looking to overturn a city rezoning decision that allowed SK hynix to build on the property in the Purdue Research Park.
The city on Jan. 26 also issued three building permits for foundations on Purdue Research Foundation-owned property at 3800 Yeager Road, totaling $98 million, for an office building, the company’s fab/manufacturing facility and a central utility building, according West Lafayette records.
Kim said in early February that the schedule for that work was still being determined, as SK hynix looks to build and open the facility by late 2028.
“We calculated back from our target date for the full operation in the latter half of the 2028,” Kim told Based in Lafayette in early February. “And based on that calculation, we find that it’s fitting for us to start the installation of the fence by the end of February, and also start the site grading by the beginning of March in order for us to meet the milestone. We no longer can tolerate the delays at this point.”
