Housing agency buying its building for $2.1M

The Indianapolis Housing Agency is set to pay $2.1 million to purchase its headquarters on North Meridian Street, which the agency has leased the past 10 years.

The City-County Council’s Metropolitan Development Committee will consider a proposal Monday evening to allow IHA to take a 10-year loan to buy the 38,000-square-foot building at 1919 N. Meridian St.

IHA will use program fees it receives from Housing and Urban Development to pay the mortgage, IHA Executive Director Bud Myers said.

A lease extension the agency received from Indianapolis-based RSE Realty Inc., the building’s owner, is up in September. After negotiating, the two came to terms on a purchase agreement, Myers said.

“We looked around at other places and, after assessing the cost of moving, it just made sense to do what we’re doing now,” he said.

By purchasing the building, Myers estimated that IHA should save about $120,000 annually. It currently pays $30,000 in monthly rent.
 
If approved Monday evening, the proposal should be considered by the full City-County Council at its Aug. 15 meeting.

Myers hopes to close on the loan in mid-September.

IHA has undertaken a massive upgrade of its housing portfolio in recent years. More than 1,300 of its almost 1,800-unit portfolio are being upgraded and 229 units are being added.

As part of that, IHA broke ground late last month on a $30 million project to renovate Lugar Tower in downtown Indianapolis and build two mixed-income buildings at its base.