Urban Planning

Development Diversity Ensures Thriving Northwest Indianapolis

By Steve Kaelble

Even in a good economy, diversity in business and development is viewed as highly desirable insurance against the potential for trouble in one sector, a major employer or the economy.

The Madame Walker Theatre Center, which originally opened in 1927 in Indianapolis’ Northwest Quadrant, is undergoing a $10-million renovation. (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Downtown Inc.)

That has proven true in the Northwest Quadrant of downtown Indianapolis, which has seen hundreds of millions of dollars in development in recent years across a wide range of sectors, including the life sciences, education, culture and residential uses.

The area, which is crossed by the downtown canal and includes a major college campus (Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis), hasn’t been completely untouched by the current economic troubles, but the area’s news has mainly been positive.

“The area around the canal used to be industrial,” says Bob Wilch, principal planner with the Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development’s Division of Planning. “It was warehouses. I don’t think there was any residential. Now, it’s a mixed-used area with a lot of residential.”

More Activity Planned

More development is on the way, adds Terry Sweeney, vice president for real estate development with Indianapolis Downtown Inc., a nonprofit promoting the city.

“The Cosmopolitan, a development on the canal with 216 apartments and 25,000 sq ft of retail, is due to be completed this year,” he says.

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Joining that $37-million project is Canal Gardens, a $9-million grouping of more than 30 townhomes; Meridian Arch, a $17-million development that’s putting residential properties into a historic church along with new construction; and about $40-million worth of student housing near the IUPUI campus.

All of the work has contributed to good news about construction starts for multiunit residential in Indianapolis in 2008, which fell only 3%, to $234 million, compared with the previous year, according to data from McGraw-Hill Construction, publisher of Midwest Construction(The figure represents the entire metropolitan area, not just the Northwest Quadrant.)

Meanwhile, Chicago’s multiunit residential starts fell 70% last year and St. Louis’ dropped 81%.

Wilch says he worked on downtown master plans in 1980 and 1990, and while residential growth was always the dream, it finally started to take shape after the 1994 opening of the downtown Circle Centre mall.

“People started to see downtown as a place they could live,” he adds.

He says the canal area in the Northwest Quadrant is ideal because of its proximity to the central downtown core as well as the IUPUI campus. The area has plenty of room to grow and no traffic problems or other significant planning issues, Wilch says.

Current cultural/educational development in the Northwest Quadrant includes the $15-million renovation of Crispus Attucks High School into a medical magnet school and museum spotlighting prominent alumni of what was the state’s first all-African American high school.

The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis is working on a $15-million addition; the Indianapolis Museum of Art is pumping nearly $10 million into an art and nature park; the Madame Walker Theatre Center, which originally opened in 1927, is undergoing a $10-million renovation; and the $55-million Indianapolis Cultural Trail includes a leg linking the up-and-coming Northwest Quadrant to the already booming Massachusetts Avenue cultural district.

On the periphery of the Northwest Quadrant is a massive hotel project, a $425-million, 1,600-room, seven-acre complex that will include a thousand-room luxury JW Marriott and three smaller properties bearing other Marriott brands.

Life Sciences’ Life Blood

The area’s most prominent economic anchor is the life sciences.

The northwest neighborhood includes the Indiana University School of Medicine and medical center, the headquarters and three downtown hospitals of Clarian Health Partners, a host of research activity, business incubators housing fledgling companies, a state forensics laboratory and Clarian’s centralized medical lab. There’s also a monorail that glides through the Northwest Quadrant linking much of the life sciences activity.

Current and recent projects include:

• The $154-million IU Simon Cancer Center that opened last year.
• $52-million educational facility serving both IU and Clarian.
• $80-million IU School of Medicine research building.
• $27-million renovation at the Richard L. Roudebush Indianapolis VA Medical Center.
• $266-million bed tower expansion at Riley Hospital for Children.

“It’s a pretty healthy life sciences pipeline,” IDI’s Sweeney says.

Still, even the life sciences are not immune to current economic woes. In fact, the Northwest Quadrant’s biggest project, the Riley Hospital bed tower, is now feeling some of the impact.

“What Clarian has elected to do is slow down completion of the first phase of the project, which was slated for this summer,” says Bill McCarthy, president of contractor Pepper Construction of Indiana. “There are future phases and they’re trying to get those closer together.”

The move conserves precious 2009 dollars, but McCarthy adds that “it doesn’t significantly affect our work.” Progress has slowed for the time being but exterior construction is ongoing. “It’s a fairly complicated project,” McCarthy says.

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