Developer unveils 16-home project just east of downtown

A developer known for building high-end, single-family housing in the urban core has assembled a site 10 blocks east of Monument Circle where it intends to build 16 custom homes.

The Re-Development Group Inc. bought the 1.6-acre site at the southeast corner of New York Street and Highland Avenue last May and in mid-December will raze three 1960s-era office/warehouse buildings to make way for home construction in 2013.

Lot/home packages will cost $250,000 to $350,000, resulting in a total investment of almost $5 million in the Holy Cross neighborhood, which is just south and west of the East 10th Street neighborhoods that benefitted from the city's multi-million-dollar Super Bowl Legacy project.

"This is a great segue from the Super Bowl," said Patrick Dubach, president of Re-Development Group. "To sustain that momentum, market rate development is very important .. especially market rate that isn't displacing people."

The project would continue Re-Development Group's own momentum. The firm has been building and rehabbing single-family homes in downtown neighborhoods since 1998, and much of its activity has focused on the near-east side, where Dubach lives. In recent years, it has built nine houses and rehabbed 13 others in a two-block stretch of Highland Avenue between New York and Michigan streets.

Now, the firm is hoping to spread investment south of New York Street, where it will use proximity to downtown and adjacent Highland Park as selling points.

The core site sits on a bluff that overlooks downtown and is bordered on the west by the 4-acre, wooded park, which is one of the highest points in the city. The seven lots that face the park and downtown are priced at $55,000 each. Five more lots face south, along Marlowe Avenue, and are priced at $39,000. One of two lots facing north, along New York Street, is reserved and will house a duplex. The other lot along New York also will be marketed as a duplex site. The remaining two lots are across Marlowe Avenue from the core site and will be marketed to single-family buyers.

The master plan for the project was designed by Mark Demerly of Demerly Architects. Re-Development Group will steer buyers to Demerly and Rottman Collier Architects to do individual house plans.

Dubach thinks the location will appeal to both young professionals and empty nesters. Though the site is close to downtown, there are some amenities within the neighborhood that could be a draw. Flat 12 Bierworks, a local microbrewery, and the Smoking Goose, which sells fresh meats, are both a few blocks away.

Joe Everhart, a real estate broker who specializes in downtown and surrounding neighborhoods, thinks the scale of the project will help address a shortage of inventory in the price range Re-Development Group is advertising. "It's rare to find such a large development all at one time," he said. "That's exciting."

He's also enthusiastic about the location. "You have a quick, almost walkable commute to downtown businesses," Everhart said.