Indianapolis seeks developer for old Oaktree Apartments site on far east side

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Metropolis officers are taking one other step ahead in the direction of revitalizing the previous crime ridden Oaktree Flats web site.

Town is now on the lookout for growth corporations to tackle the duty of revitalizing.

“We used to name it den of inequity and it actually was crime ridden,” the Mayor of Indianapolis, Joe Hogsett, mentioned on Wednesday throughout a press convention.

For years, the previous Oaktree Flats was a hotspot for crime on town’s far east aspect.

Police reviews present officers have been known as for rape, baby abduction, assault and different crimes.

Town labored for years to get the proprietor to repair the place or promote it.

Lastly In 2019, town purchased it, and tore the residences down.

“It was infested. It was dangerous and so we have been pleased when it acquired demolished as a result of it was an eyesore,” the District 14 councillor La Keisha Jackson, mentioned.

For the reason that demolition, the mayor says neighborhood members have give you a plan to revitalize the place that focuses on their wants.

“It’ll be an area the place individuals can congregate and really feel optimistic in it and have interaction and socialize with one another indoors, outdoor house and greenspace all collectively,” Jackson mentioned.

“I hope that in partnership with neighborhood organizations we’ll have the ability to develop these acres in ways in which improve the far east aspect and are consistent with the neighbors’ imaginative and prescient,” Hogsett mentioned.

On Wednesday, town opened the formal bidding course of, on the lookout for plans to convey new housing and civic house.

Submissions are as a result of metropolis by the top of January.

Neighborhood members say they’re trying ahead to the brand new modifications.

“The youth now there’s no steering, so I figured if we get a few leaders out right here with some good heads on their shoulders we are able to make a optimistic change,” Kevin Thomas, an Indianapolis resident, mentioned.

“We’re a neighborhood that helps and helps one another we simply want the sources. We don’t want a handout, we’d like a handup and so this neighborhood deserves that,” Jackson mentioned.

Some individuals say they’re enthusiastic about the way forward for town’s east aspect neighborhood.