City pitching in $38M for $192M Clarian project

The city is kicking in up to $38 million for infrastructure upgrades to support a massive expansion of the Clarian Health campus at 16th Street and Capitol Avenue.

The $192 million project, which calls for a new neuroscience unit and administrative building, will cover about six city blocks and create about 1,200 new jobs, Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard and Clarian CEO Daniel Evans announced Thursday.

Clarian's planned Neuroscience Center is a centerpiece of the project. (Rendering courtesy city of Indianapolis)

The project, a partnership between Clarian, Shiel Sexton and Indiana University, also would create about 1,700 temporary construction jobs and move exempted properties back to the tax rolls.

IBJ has reported extensively on the project since January, revealing the number of jobs expected and project cost in one September report and details about the new neurosurgery unit in another.

Shiel Sexton owns all the land east of Capitol Avenue from 14th Street to 16th Street with the exception of Indianapolis Fire Station No. 5 at 155 W. 16th St. The city plans to transfer ownership of the property from the Department of Public Safety to the Department of Metropolitan Development, which in turn will give it to Shiel.

The city's estimated contribution would come from a downtown tax increment finance district, the same source of the city's support for the proposed North of South project. About $6 million would go toward a new fire station to replace Station No. 5, another $1.5 million would go toward remediation of brownfield sites, and the balance would pay for roads, sewers and utility improvements, city officials said.

Construction is set to begin in November with completion in 2012.

Clarian has said the 1,187 jobs it expects to create would have an average annual salary of $46,925. The range would run from $27,000 for clerical staff to as high as $104,000 for management.

The project centerpieces are a five-story, 280,000-square-foot administration building and a five-story, 247,000-square-foot neurosciences center. Also included in the project is a seven-level, 1,100-space parking garage with 35,000 square feet of retail and medical office space on the first floor.

Clarian also is planning to build a bed tower at Methodist. The tower would have 175 to 250 beds and allow Methodist to make all its rooms private. Right now, half of Methodist’s 760 beds are in pairs in shared rooms.

Clarian predicts it could spend $375 million to $500 million on the project, which would not be complete until mid-2015.