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Federal administrators have approved an Indianapolis Airport Authority’s plan to permanently close the Indianapolis Downtown Heliport after IU Health’s LifeLine operation relocates to Hancock County late next year.
The Federal Aviation Administration, in a letter dated Nov. 25, informed the airport authority it can move ahead with decommissioning the heliport property to make way for the site’s eventual redevelopment.
The authority has not publicly disclosed its target closure date for the heliport. In a statement to IBJ, a spokesperson for IU Health said LifeLine “will remain active at the downtown heliport through 2025.”
IU Health has agreed to lease 11.4 acres at the Indianapolis Regional Airport in Hancock County for a new LifeLine helicopter transport headquarters near Greenfield that could begin as soon as Oct. 1, 2025.
Airport authority officials said late Monday that the plan for the Indianapolis Downtown Heliport property remains the same as it was nearly four years ago when IBJ first reported that the authority had reached a deal with the city to broker the sale of the property for future projects. The authority said in May it was moving ahead with decommissioning the property.
The non-binding memorandum of understanding signed in 2021 allows the city to work with the authority to either find a third-party developer or to sell the property to the city or a related organization, such as the Capital Improvement Board of Marion County or the city’s Department of Metropolitan Development.
While ideas for what could be done with the property were ill-defined at the time the agreement was authored, the heliport has since become the centerpiece of Mayor Joe Hogsett’s plan to develop a stadium district that would be home to a Major League Soccer club.
The city has been working closely with an undisclosed investor group on the effort and is now beginning to assemble land for such a development, which is expected to encompass about 17 acres on the near-east side of downtown between Alabama and East streets, south of Washington Street.
The city on Monday confirmed it is also working to acquire a one-acre parcel—an 80-space parking lot—within those boundaries that would likely be integrated into stadium redevelopment.
The city—or any other entity that would buy the property—would be required by the FAA to pay fair market value. While new appraisals are expected to be done on the site, a pair of 2022 evaluations determined the site to be worth anywhere from $9 million to $10.5 million.
While public documents generally show the site being about 4.9 acres, the FAA considers just under 5.4 acres to be under its purview related to the heliport, including the heliport structure, the landing pad and land abutting roadways and train tracks.
“After a nearly four-year deliberative process, the Federal Aviation Administration has issued a determination letter to the Indianapolis Airport Authority authorizing the decommissioning of the Indianapolis Downtown Heliport,” Megan Carrico, senior director of public affairs for the airport authority, said in a statement.
“The Heliport will remain open and active until its only tenant, IU Health LifeLine, moves its operations to a new facility at the Indianapolis Regional Airport. That transition, along with some additional steps required by the FAA, must be completed before the heliport’s closure can occur. The IAA plans to sell the site for fair market value—as FAA regulations require.”
In addition to LifeLine operations, private operators such as Fort Wayne-based Sweet Helicopters and other aviation enthusiasts would be permitted to continue using the heliport until it is fully decommissioned.
In order to complete the decommissioning and closure process, the airport authority must meet nearly a dozen requirements outlined in the FAA’s letter, including:
— Submission of the final proposed permanent closure date, with at least 90 days notice to provide for inclusion in the Federal Register (30 days) and to cancel approach procedures;
— Remove all airworthy aircraft and operations from the facility;
— Airspace study indicating plans for proposed construction or alterations to the heliport;
— Updated appraisals and independent review of the appraisals to show fair market value for a purchase within six months of closure date;
— Commitment to comprehensive study on eVTOLs—short for electric vertical takeoffs and landings, the name given to aircraft that can act like helicopters near the ground but fly like small planes—that will begin before approval to close is granted, and will be completed within three years;
— Issue any notices required to complete closure, as well as destroy any markings and lighting associated with its operation;
— Sell the property for at least fair market value and provide appropriate documentation.
The airport authority received about $6.71 million in federal funds for the heliport from 1983 to 2020: $4.2 million in discretionary funds, $2.48 million in airport improvement program funds and $20,000 in COVID-19 relief funds. That includes just less than $575,000 to acquire the heliport property.
As part of its agreement with the FAA, the airport authority will repay the outstanding portion of its airport improvement program grant, which will be prorated based on the date of closure.
The authority has also “committed to building a vertiport” at Indianapolis International Airport “at the appropriate time,” in addition to the air mobility study it will complete as part of the decommissioning process with the FAA, according to the letter. The group has not previously said publicly it would establish a vertical take-off and landing operation at the airport.
The FAA said neither it nor the airport authority has received a formal request to acquire and operate the airport since the Indianapolis Airport Authority first indicated a desire to close the property to the federal government more than three years ago.
Even so, the plans to decommission the property have generated extensive pushback from some in the private sector, including Chuck Surack, the Fort Wayne entrepreneur and former owner of Sweetwater Sound who said he regularly uses the heliport for business dealings and other trips to Indianapolis.
“The FAA considers, among other relevant details, whether a release of the federal obligations constitutes a net benefit to civil aviation,” the administration said in its letter. “The FAA finds the release of the Indianapolis Downtown Heliport property constitutes a net benefit to civil aviation.”
The FAA did not provide a response to IBJ’s request for comment for this story.
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Expect more MLS stadium dominos to fall as the end of the year approaches.
Really foolish move by the city.
Because travel by helicopter is so prevalent and readily accessible to anyone other than millionaire business owners?
Buy five acres a mile or two from downtown. Land your helicopter there and take a slightly longer private car.
Done.
But the Sweetwater Sound billionaire needs to land his helicopter two times a month for business! Think about the poor’s for once. Geez.
Nope. A solid move.
If the small handful of rich people who use it (Lifeline is getting its own facility) want to keep flying into Downtown and making noise with their helicopters, then they can use all their money to buy the heliport or buy land to build their own. It’s not the taxpayer’s responsibility to make sure the Sweetwater guy has a cozy place to land his chopper.
I have mixed feelings about this. The helicopters are noisy and they this located in the most densely populated census track in the state, ensuring maximum irritation levels. Besides lifeline, the only time there is any real traffic at the heliport is race time, when uber rich race fans are looking for fast route to and from the track. It is a key piece of real estate, but a heliport comes across as just a status symbol, not that a soccer stadium without a team will be any different.
As for finding 5 acres near downtown, the noise factor for the number 1 reason to push this into the suburbs.
IMS has 14 holes worth of a golf course right next door to the track, in addition to the hundreds of acres of land they own. Surely they can figure out a way to land helicopters one day a year on-site.
Hmm. There’s at least 5 acres available at the former GM plant, right on the western edge of Downtown, and soon to be served by a deluxe bridge across the White River.
Plus, the former site of the City of Oz (IndyElevenWorld) is more than 5 acres and it’s even closer to Downtown…and its neighbors are fortress-like telecom/server centers, the steam plant, and LOS. A bonus is that it’s owned by one of Surack’s business partners.
Maybe you haven’t heard…that site needs serious time-consuming archeological work.
Cool Great News! Now Develop it!!!
Get bent, Chuck
Even Stevie Wonder can see the hand writing on the wall with this move by the city. The city has publicly stated several times their intentions to build a soccer stadium and the the area needed to build it. This was the major piece of the puzzle that was needed. Everything else will either have to willingly sell or be taken by imminent domain. The city is hell bent on bringing another professional sports team to the city and it seems that all the decision makers of the city and state are backing the idea. To be honest, if Indy wants to continue competing with its peers, this project has to be built. Nashville, Cincinnati, Columbus, Salt Lake City and even Kansas City are all developing projects like this or trying to on some level. Indy calls itself the amateur capital of the world and we have to start action like it and seperate ourselves from the pack. The competition is fierce and Indy can’t ever take a break cause our peers are hot on our heels to steal events from the city. So build, build, build is the name of the game here.
Indy is not getting an MLS team, and I can’t wait to laugh when that becomes clear.
What reliable primary source are you using to validate you baseless claim? Indy built a dome before having a NFL team. There’s the Pacers and Fever and plenty of people with BIG pockets as well as Lilly, the LARGEST pharmaceutical company in the world. Point is, people always keep saying what Indy won’t get, then we get it. Like a Super Bowl, NBA and WNBA ALL STAR GAMES, NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP and Final Fours. What are you even talking Murray R.?
It’s quite clear that Ersal Ozdemir isn’t getting an MLS team, and Indianapolis was foolish to let him lead an effort without nearly enough funding and whiff twice because the price went way up in the interim.
It’s less clear if future attempts will fail because we don’t know who is part of the ownership group. The Simon family appears to be the type of owner that MLS is comfortable with, with both the resources and the experience owning a major sports franchise. It would appear that they’re willing to invest money into downtown Indianapolis, look at what they’re doing with the CSX building.
As part of the original development team alongside the City of Indianapolis Department of Economic Development and Bond issuer, it is a sad day for me to see this happening to an entity that with extremely strong feasibility studies back in the day, provided and warranted the development and building of the Indianapolis Heliport. So sorry to see its demise in my lifetime, when many of us thought it to be a real God Send to Indianapolis for multiple reasons. Most are still of value. Sorry to see it go.