Indianapolis, IN
Downtown heliport at center of MLS stadium talks to close. What happens next?
Watch discussions on site for possible MLS stadium in Indianapolis
Listen to discussions at the Metropolitan Development Commission on a proposed stadium site to attract a Major League Soccer team to Indianapolis.
Brett Phelps/IndyStar
The Federal Aviation Administration has officially approved closing the downtown Indianapolis heliport, capping off a yearslong decommissioning process and clearing a hurdle for the Major League Soccer stadium that Mayor Joe Hogsett hopes to one day develop on the site.
Three years after the Indianapolis Airport Authority submitted a request to decommission, or shut down, the heliport, the FAA ultimately agreed, determining closing the heliport would not impact air operations in Indianapolis and was “a net benefit to civil aviation,” according to a Nov. 25 letter signed by FAA Associate Administrator for Airports Shannetta Griffin and addressed to the IAA Executive Director Mario Rodriguez.
IAA officials said the heliport, which opened in 1969, has seen a decline in demand, tenants and revenue along with mounting expenses in recent years, according to the letter.
The fate of the heliport has become publicly intwined with Mayor Joe Hogsett’s efforts to bring a Major League Soccer team to Indianapolis, as the heliport sits at the center of a mile-wide site the city identified as a potential soccer stadium district after ditching a $1 billion development proposed by Indy Eleven owner Ersal Ozdemir. The city has exclusive rights to buy and redevelop the heliport site from the IAA under a memorandum of understanding signed in 2021.
The proposal to close the heliport sparked opposition across the state. In comments to the FAA, hundreds of aviation enthusiasts, politicians and business owners, including former vice president Mike Pence, opposed the plan, citing the benefit of the heliport’s easy access to downtown.
“There is literally nowhere to land a helicopter in Indianapolis now,” said Fort Wayne entrepreneur Chuck Surack, who owns the helicopter charter service Sweet Helicopters. “Any leading world class city has a heliport or a way to land downtown. You need it for safety and for the public good.”
Surack, who joined Indy Eleven as a co-owner and investor for a now-defunct private Indy Eleven soccer stadium development, bought the nearby LaQuinta Inn and Suites property at 401 E. Washington St. three months ago to encourage more dialogue over the location of the stadium, he told IndyStar.
Over the past three years, the FAA said no buyer came forward to acquire the heliport from the Indianapolis Airport Authority to keep it in operation.
Flight data at the heliport is limited, but the most recently available Department of Transportation show 1,696 arrivals and departures. That number hasn’t exceeded 2,600 since 2011.
The heliport’s last official tenant, IU Health, agreed to cease operations there eventually in a deal finalized with the IAA in June. Public and private companies still use the site and may do so until it closes.
MLS commissioner says expansion not imminent, but Indy doing right things
MLS commissioner Don Garber says expansion not imminent, but Indy doing right things
What happens next?
It’s not known exactly when the heliport will close. IU Health’s LifeLine emergency medical transportation will continue to operate at the heliport through 2025 before it moves to the Indianapolis Regional Airport at the corner of West Airport Boulevard and North Aviation Way in Buck Creek Township, some 18 miles east of downtown.
Other outstanding heliport infrastructure, such as hangars or fueling stations, will move to the Indianapolis International Airport or another airport in the area, according to the FAA letter. State officials have expressed concerns over the future of electric helicopters, or EVTOL, if the site closes. According to the agreement, the IAA will build a vertiport site at Indianapolis International Airport to support EVTOL use around Indianapolis.
The IAA signed a memorandum of understanding in 2021 giving the city exclusive rights to purchase and redevelop the site. Under the FAA agreement, the IAA must provide two appraisals and an independent review appraisal within six months of the closing date to determine a fair market value. After that, the airport must publicly sell the land at that value and reinvest the money into the Indianapolis Regional Airport. The Indianapolis Airport Authority also operates the Eagle Creek Airpark, Indianapolis Metropolitan Airport and Hendricks County Airport.
As for a potential soccer stadium, the State Budget Committee is expected to vote on a proposal to create a special taxing district at the site in the coming months. The city has said an MLS ownership group would be announced before such a vote takes place.
The city has been quietly inquiring about multiple buildings within the tax district. On Wednesday, the city will consider buying a surface parking lot in the stadium taxing district.
Alysa Guffey covers growth and development for IndyStar. Have a business story or tip? Contact her at amguffey@gannett.com.
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
WATCH LIVE COVERAGE
(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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