INDIANAPOLIS -- By a 4-3 margin, the Metropolitan Development Commission has approved plans to build a 12-story 263-unit apartment building at 501 Indiana Avenue, looming over the historic stretch of downtown Indianapolis and connecting to the downtown canal.
Arrow Street Development predicts it will spend more than $100 million to demolish the current 500 Place office building at the intersection of Indiana and Michigan avenues and construct an apartment building that will accept its first residents in the summer of 2026.
While admitting that development along Indiana Avenue is inevitable, Claudia Polley of Ransom Place told the commission that the proposed development is too big for its footprint and its neighbors.
”If you overlay the building that is proposed at the height that is proposed, it will block a significant part of that downtown skyline view from the Madame Walker Building,” she said.
The Madama C.J. Walker Theater has anchored the historic district which was the center of Indianapolis’ African American business community and culture in the 20th century.
Homegrown musical giants such as Wes Montgomery played nightclubs along the Avenue and traded licks with the legends of American jazz and blues.
Currently, the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library and Walker Theater are the only cultural centers along Indiana Avenue though Purdue University will soon build out its Indianapolis presence on parking lots of the former IUPUI campus.
”Purdue is in control of the 28 acres directly on the other side of Indiana Avenue. We’re working closely with Purdue as to how they grow their space,” said Polley. ”The best urban environments are mixed. I’m not sure we know all of what mixed is but it is not just an educational facility, it is not just a historic place, it is not just retail. It is a combination of all of the above. It’s a very small place when you think about it.”
The planned 501 Indiana Avenue apartment complex would feature retail and office space and host parking for 323 vehicles.
”We’ve got two universities catty-corner from this building,” said Polley. “You’ve got churches, you’ve got businesses, you’ve got sort of the future of Indianapolis being developed along Indiana Avenue because there’s so much empty space. It should be pedestrian-focused instead of car-focused.”
City staff testified that the developer adapted the design of the parking garage to protect the views along the canal and the 501 Indiana Avenue apartment project is the first building in 10 years to measure more than three stories near the canal.