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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe city of Indianapolis today revealed a map of a possible taxing district that could be used to help pay for a new professional soccer stadium on the east side of downtown.
The map specifies more than 120 non-contiguous addresses throughout the downtown area that would be incorporated into a new professional sports development area, or PSDA, that would provide substantial funding for a sports venue on land adjacent to the Downtown Indianapolis Heliport.
Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett said Thursday that city officials are working with an undisclosed ownership group to pursue a Major League Soccer club for the city.
The Indiana General Assembly passed legislation in 2019 allowing for state tax contributions of up to $9.5 million per year toward debt service on a soccer stadium, as long as 20% of the overall cost is contributed by private parties, such as a developer or owner.
The city’s Metropolitan Development Commission will consider the map for preliminary approval at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, May 1, in the City-County Building Public Assembly Room.
The PSDA would collect state retail taxes, local and state income taxes, and food and beverage taxes to pay for the public portion of the stadium. Innkeepers taxes and admission taxes could also be collected within those boundaries.
Released Friday by the Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development, the new map includes downtown landmarks such as Circle Centre Mall, the former Anthem headquarters on Monument Circle, the City Market campus and Jail I—along with the heliport property and surrounding parking lots.
The site identified for the stadium is an existing parking lot west of the heliport structure at 355 E. Pearl St.
City officials believe a new stadium at the site could spur development on many downtown parcels included in the map, while others, like the mall and City Market, are already set to receive substantial new investment.
Other properties include the Emmis building at 40 Monument Circle; multiple properties along Indiana Avenue; the Rolls-Royce headquarters; Union Station; and several Eli Lilly and Co.-owned properties between Pennsylvania Street and Delaware Street, on either side of the CSX railroad tracks. Several properties on the north end of the central business district, including portions of the Stutz, and a handful of parcels along East Washington Street are also in the proposed map.
The Indianapolis International Airport Authority owns the heliport and has taken steps to decommission it and make the property available for development, but that process has proven controversial among some who want to maintain the landing pad, which is regularly used by IU Health for lifeline flights.
Keeping the heliport, the city has said, could stifle larger development surrounding the property because of federal height restrictions and setback requirements tied to aviation uses.
If the proposed map is approved by the eight-member board, it will move on to the Indianapolis City-County Council before returning to the MDC for a final certification. Under the 2019 legislation that created the PSDA’s framework, the city must have those legislative approvals by June 30.
The City-County Council has already approved a different PSDA for a professional soccer stadium at the former Diamond Chain site on the west side of downtown, giving its final approval on Dec. 4 by a 23-1 vote.
That project is already under construction by Indianapolis-based Keystone Group, whose owner, Ersal Ozdemir, also owns the Indy Eleven soccer team., which plays in the second-tier USL Championship league.
However, a feasibility study has not yet been completed for the site, which is required before the PSDA map is considered for approval by the State Budget Committee, which has authority on the matter under the state legislation. City officials said the administration stopped negotiations with Keystone Group after determining there was “no viable path forward” for the project, in terms of funding, citing an unspecified large gap.
While city officials have said that the Diamond Chain site and the existing PSDA remain an option for an MLS stadium, sources told IBJ on the condition of anonymity that the city would prefer to decommission the heliport and redevelop that site, instead.
Hogsett administration officials will work with the potential team-ownership group to determine which site to submit to the state budget committee. The state law allows for only one PSDA for the future soccer stadium.
Indianapolis Business Journal reporter Taylor Wooten contributed to this story.
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Seems a bit contrived! 120 scattered parcels, but can’t include the Indy 11 site and the heliport site as potential soccer site.?
Must be hard to read, Kevin. It says the heliport and surrounding properties are in the proposed PSDA updates and that Diamond Chain facility (Indy Eleven site) was in the all ready approved PSDA.
Odds of the MLS approving expansion to 31(?) teams is single digits at best.
Our tax dollars are hopeful it is zero.
Where is the actual list of the parcels. A half crappy map is ridiculous.
Isn’t it ironic that the now leveled property where Diamond Chain stood, before that an interurban yard and terminal…..before anything, the city’s first cemetery………followed by a 19,968 seat baseball park that hosted our 3rd ‘big league’ Federal League baseball team from 1914-1915 only to be moved to Newark, NJ by oil wheeler dealer Henry Sinclair 🦕. Maybe the location is like a bad restaurant location, simply doomed.
Why doesn’t IU include a new helicopter landing spot in their new multi-billion $ downtown development? What’s a few million more?!
The hospital will obviously have a helipad for landing medical helicopters, like the current hospital does, but that is quite different from a full-blown heliport, which would be open to all helicopters, not just IU medical helicopters. You are talking about the difference between a landing pad and an airport for helicopters.