Indianapolis, IN
What are the largest development projects in downtown Indianapolis? IU Health leads boom.
See an overview of the Indiana University Health Hospital construction site
Watch the construction site of the Indiana University Health Hospital
With at least $5 billion in the development pipeline, downtown Indianapolis is experiencing a commercial boom that will change the fabric of the city over the next four years.
The development projects span multiple industries, including hospitality, health, retail and residential housing. The downtown investments could also contribute taxes to an even more lucrative development in the more distant future. Most of the priciest developments outlined below fall within a special tax plan the city created to fund a potential Major League Soccer Stadium.
Regardless of whether the stadium comes to fruition, these projects suggest the city may be moving forward from the ghost town era of the pandemic and reinventing its physical landscape.
Below are the nine most expensive developments underway downtown.
IU Health Hospital Campus
Cost: $2.3 billion
Where: Southwest corner of 16th Street and Capitol Avenue
The city’s largest development sits on the north side of downtown with IU Health’s construction of its new state-of-the-art hospital complex. The project starts at the southwest corner of 16th Street and Capitol Avenue and stretches south to I-65. With a price tag of more than $2 billion, the project will consolidate IU Health’s Methodist and University hospitals into one large academic medical center.
With three 16-story towers that will alter the Indianapolis skyline, the hospital will contain more than 2 million square feet of space and 864 beds.
Though detailed plans are not yet finalized, the ground floors will include a mix of retail and dining spaces to open the development up to the surrounding community. IU Health officials also expect the opening of the medical campus to attract additional development to the neighborhood. They have said they will work with developers to avoid gentrification in the area.
The project will open in late 2027.
First look: IU Health provides peek at hospital construction, hotel-like design
Signia hotel and convention center expansion
Cost: $710 million
Where: Corner of Illinois Street and Georgia Street
One block from the convention center, a large hole in the ground is slowly but surely taking shape as the largest hotel in downtown Indianapolis.
The $510 million Signia by Hilton hotel will provide an additional 800 hotel rooms in its 40-story tower. Combined with a $200 million, 200,000-square foot expansion of the neighboring convention center, the city will eventually have the capacity to host two conventions at once.
Indianapolis provided more than $600 million in government financing for the project, which is expected to open in 2026.
Once new Signia hotel opens, Indianapolis could host larger conventions or two at once
Circle Centre Mall
Cost: $650 million
Where: 49 W. Maryland St.
After years of speculation and discussions around redevelopment, Hendricks Commercial Properties bought Circle Centre Mall earlier this year, officially signaling a new era for the mall spanning two key blocks of downtown.
Hendricks, developer of the Bottleworks District, envisions a seamless indoor-outdoor experience in the reimagined shopping center, which is expected to contain apartments and office space in addition to retail stores.
Though details are not yet finalized, the total investment for the mall redevelopment is estimated to be around $650 million, according to city documents. Hendricks has yet to announce when it will break ground on the project, which it has said will open by 2028.
CSX Building
Cost: $300 million
Where: 230 S. Pennsylvania St.
Boxcar Development LLC, an investment group led by Indiana Pacers owner Herb Simon and the rest of the Simon family, will develop an upscale 13-story, 170-room Shinola hotel and 4,000-seat entertainment venue on the site of the vacant CSX building at 230 S. Pennsylvania St.
The Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission voted 8-0 to approve the demolition of the CSX building, after city officials and developers said they could not find a use for the five-story, century-old building.
Developers hope to break ground near the end of 2024 with a targeted opening date of late 2027.
CSX building: Historic preservation commission approves Shinola hotel, demolition of CSX building
Bottleworks expansion
Cost: $300 million
Where: Corner of Massachusetts Avenue and N. College Street
Hendricks Commercial Properties continues to expand its Bottleworks District on the northeast side of downtown to provide a new era of in-office workspaces with two buildings set to open in the next year.
The Lumina Foundation moved into the building at 820 Massachusetts Ave. this year, leasing a 24,000-square-foot office on the top floor. Retail space will cover the ground floor.
City Market redevelopment
Cost: $298 million
Where: 222 E. Market Street
The once bustling City Market campus will undergo a $298 million facelift by Indianapolis-based-Gershman Partners and Indianapolis-based Citimark as the city hopes to once again establish the site as a central dining and gathering place.
Part of the redevelopment includes a conversion of the Gold Building from office space to 350 apartment units. A new tower will house 60 apartments, 8,000 square feet of office space and 22,000 square feet of retail atop the market’s current east wing.
The market closed earlier this year for a multi-year period and is expected to reopen in 2027.
Old City Hall redevelopment
Cost: $268 million
Where: 202 N. Alabama Street
Though redevelopment plans for Old City Hall are still undergoing revisions from the Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission, the transformation of the long-standing civic building is one of the most highly anticipated mixed-use projects in the city’s development pipeline.
Last year, Indianapolis officers selected local developer TWG for the project after a call out for proposals.
Earlier this year, the Central Indiana Regional Development Authority approved a budget of $264 million in READI 2.0 funds for the project, nearly doubling the project from its initial $140 estimated price tag.
501 Indiana Avenue
Cost: $100 million
Where: 501 Indiana Avenue
Along the Indiana Avenue corridor, a two-story office building will soon become a 12-story apartment building, significantly changing the look and feel of the historic area on the northwest side of downtown.
The $100 million-plus development by Indiana Avenue Partners, a joint venture of the Indianapolis-based Arrow Street Development and Chatham Park Development, will include 263 residential units and a parking garage with more than 300 parking spaces and three retail spaces. Purdue University in Indianapolis students are expected to live in the apartment complex.
The project, expected to open in 2026, narrowly passed the Metropolitan Development Commission by a 4-3 vote.
More: Indiana Avenue 12-story development will go up despite lingering height concerns
Elanco Animal Health Global Headquarters
Cost: $100 million
Where: Along the White River between Washington Street and Oliver Avenue
The new Elanco Headquarters, a three-acre research facility near the former site of the GM stamping plant, will open in the spring of 2025 after the state of Indiana awarded the company an incentive package worth $106 million to move its headquarters. The city of Indianapolis pitched in another $64 million in incentives.
The innovative plant, animal and human health district, in partnership with Purdue University, could grow larger with future land purchases.
More: Purdue and Elanco to create 3-acre research facility near former GM stamping plant site
Alysa Guffey covers growth and development for IndyStar. Have a business tip or story? Contact her at amguffey@gannett.com.
INDIANAPOLIS — One person is in critical condition following a shooting on Indy’s near east side.
According to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, around 8:10 p.m., officers were called to the 2000 block of East Washington Street on reports of a person shot.
Upon arrival, police located a 50-year-old man with injuries consistent with a gunshot wound.
He is currently reported to be in extremely critical condition.
No additional information has been made available at the time of this article’s publication.
This is a developing story; check back for updates.
The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission on June 17 gave AES the nod to raise electricity rates enough to earn an additional $71 million each year, a decision that drew reproof from Indiana lawmakers who called it another blow to cost-burdened consumers.
The approved rate represents less than half of the $192 million increase that AES initially requested. It’s also less than the $91 million increase proposed in an October settlement agreement between AES, the city of Indianapolis and major electricity consumers like Kroger and Walmart.
But the new rate is still significantly more than what the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor, the state agency representing ratepayers in the case, recommended in September. The OUCC’s proposal would have capped AES’s annual operating revenue at $21 million less than the current level.
The rate increase authorizes AES to earn a total of nearly $2 billion each year, or an estimated $384 million in profit.
The higher base rate comes as a double whammy for Indianapolis-area households, who are already paying more for electricity this summer after AES temporarily raised rates to account for higher-than-anticipated fuel costs during last winter’s storms. The increase also arrives against the backdrop of inflation, which rose to a three-year high last month, and surging gas prices due to the war in Iran.
Gov. Mike Braun wrote in a Wednesday post to X that he was “deeply disappointed” by the IURC’s approval of the rate increase.
“Hoosiers have spent years tightening their belts and making tough financial decisions,” Braun wrote. “It’s time for utility companies to do the same.”
The IURC’s decision also drew fire from the other side of the aisle. In a June 17 news release, five Democrats representing Indianapolis in the state Senate – J.D. Ford, Andrea Hunley, La Keisha Jackson, Fady Qaddoura, and Greg Taylor – chastised Indiana’s Republican supermajority for failing to rein in rising utility costs.
“Hoosiers pay more. Monopoly utilities collect more. And the leaders in the super-majority who promise affordability over and over again show those are just empty words,” the news release said. “Instead, they continue to defend a system that takes more and more out of our paychecks.”
The consumer advocacy group Citizens Action Coalition also slammed the rate increase. Ben Inskeep, CAC’s program director, said the decision left him “less optimistic that this commission is willing to do things differently and to actually hold utilities accountable.”
He said the IURC should have penalized AES for issues that plagued customers after the utility updated its billing system in 2023, including duplicated withdrawals for the same monthly bill.
The rate increase will take effect in two phases, with rates going up in July 2026 and January 2027. AES officials anticipate the hikes “will be less than $5 per month per phase” for a household that uses 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per month, according to a Wednesday news release from the utility.
“The IURC’s decision reflects a thorough, transparent process and balances the need for continued investment in the electric system with a focus on customer affordability,” the news release stated.
Under a state law that Braun signed in February, AES cannot ask for another increase to its base rate until January 2030 — though electricity bills could still go up for other reasons, like the fuel adjustment charge hitting consumers this month.
Three members of the five-member IURC signed off on the rate increase: Andy Zay, David Veleta, and David Ziegner. Commissioner Bob Deig dissented. Commissioner Anthony Swinger recused himself from the decision because he worked on the AES rate case for the OUCC before he was appointed to the IURC by Braun in January.
“None of this was taken lightly,” Zay, the IURC’s chair, said at the Wednesday hearing, adding that the commission and its staff had carefully weighed concerns about affordability. The commissioners did not go into further detail at the hearing.
But the commission’s order shows some of the debates that played out during the rate case. One point of contention was AES’s authorized return on equity — that is, how much the utility can earn each year in profits. Other disputes hinged on how AES forecasts its operating expenses.
The OUCC accused AES of including more than 100 “phantom hires,” vacant positions it did not necessarily intend to fill in its calculations. Last year, AES said that the rising costs of vegetation management, or trimming trees around power lines, also drove the need to raise rates. The OUCC recommended keeping vegetation management costs flat.
One factor that’s not driving higher prices? Data centers.
AES does not currently provide service to any data centers and did not include them in its calculations, AES president Brandi Davis-Handy said in testimony before the IURC.
Tilly Robinson is a Pulliam fellow for the Indianapolis Star. She can be reached at tilly.robinson@indystar.com.
Interactive radar | Weather alerts by county
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(WRTV) — A tornado watch has been issued through 1 a.m. EDT Thursday for much of Indiana, the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center said.
The watch area covers 47 of Indiana’s 92 counties, and includes Indianapolis and its surrounding counties.
Counties in the watch area are Bartholomew, Blackford, Boone, Brown, Carroll, Cass, Clay, Clinton, Daviess, Decatur, Delaware, Fountain, Grant, Greene, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Henry, Howard, Huntington, Jackson, Jay, Jennings, Johnson, Knox, Lawrence, Madison, Marion, Martin, Miami, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Owen, Parke, Putnam, Randolph, Rush, Shelby, Sullivan, Tippecanoe, Tipton, Vermillion, Vigo, Wabash, Warren, and White.
WRTV Meteorologist Ryan Morse says Wednesday afternoon’s rain was the first of two rounds coming to the Hoosier state. A line of supercells were expected to form in Illinois and travel into central Indiana.
In neighboring Illinois, dozens of counties are under a tornado watch until 10 p.m. CDT/11 p.m. EST.
All threats of severe weather were on the table: damaging wind, strong tornadoes, large hail, and flooding.
Severe storms should exit Indiana in the early morning hours.
WISH-TV Meteorologist Keith Gibson says people should have multiple ways of getting alerts and have electronic devices fully charged in case they lose power.
The next chance for rain after these storms could be on Saturday.
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