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Carmel-based Merchants Bancorp wants to expand its presence in the city with a 111,000-square-foot building that will be part of a $133 million redevelopment project in Midtown.
Plans call for the five-story building, called Merchants Bank HQ2, to be built at the site of the former AT&T building near 3rd Avenue SW and Industrial Drive.
Carmel Redevelopment Commission Executive Director Henry Mestetsky said Merchants Capital Corp.—a division of Merchants Bancorp—would be the building’s primary tenant.
Merchants Capital Corp. provides financing with a focus on market rate and affordable multifamily housing.
The building, according to designs by Carmel-based Studio M Architecture and Planning LLC, will have a brick and glass facade and include a walkway constructed above 3rd Avenue SW that will connect with the existing Merchants Bank of Indiana headquarters.
“It continues the same industrial look [of Midtown], but it has this modern addition to it. It’s that glass enclosure,” Mestetsky said. “It almost looks like somebody put a modern glass facade on top of a historical building.”
Site plan and design approval for Merchants Bank HQ2 will be discussed at the Carmel Plan Commission’s hearing officer meeting on Aug. 24. The project will not require approval from the Carmel City Council.
Merchants Bancorp, parent of Merchants Bank of Indiana and Merchants Capital Corp., has seen substantial growth in recent years. The company reported assets of $15.9 billion and deposits of $13.1 billion as of June 30.
Merchants Bank of Indiana opened its headquarters in September 2019 at 410 Monon Blvd. The 120,000-square-foot building includes 8,000 square feet of retail space and 24,000 square feet of leasable office space.
Last year, Merchants Bank of Indiana, Indianapolis-based Pure Development Inc. and Indianapolis-based developers Buckingham Cos. and Third Street Ventures announced plans to redevelop the former AT&T building site.
The project is expected to include a six-story building with 227 apartment units, 10 townhouses and seven live/work units; a 15,000-square-foot headquarters for Pure Development; and a 10,000-square-foot office building.
The 448,000-square-foot multifamily residential building, also designed by Studio M, would include a parking garage with more than 400 spaces.
Two new single-family homes would be constructed, at 449 and 451 Emerson Road in the Johnson Addition neighborhood, which was built in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Mestetsky said construction on the multifamily residential building and parking garage will begin before the end of the year.
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Every town in Hamilton County is expericing economic and developmental growth from Westfield, Zionsville, Nobelsville but Carmel and Fishers are the BIG DAWGS in the neighborhood. The county has a population of 360k and counting. That gives Indy a HUGE advantage over some of its peer cities in that there’s such a large suburb area in its metro
Kevin, it is good to see that we have high quality suburbs that can operate at scale and create serious amenities. Hamilton County’s population is actually higher than Lexington-Fayette County, Kentucky. It’s rare for Midwest suburbs to exceed 100,000 in population, but Carmel and Fishers are already there, and Noblesville and Westfield might eventually join the club. Carmel Midtown might be the most beautiful urban space in the Indy region. It’s a tourist attraction and lots of communities around the state have expressed a desire to have “something like Sun King in Carmel.”
Carmel has become very urban like most cities that abut a major city. Look for people to move north to Westfield for real suburban living. Fisher like Carmel has become very urban and has reached it’s peak. Growth is definitely moving north to Westfield.