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The Indianapolis Airport Authority is moving ahead with a plan to close the Indianapolis Downtown Heliport, a necessary step in the Hogsett administration’s plan to develop a professional soccer stadium on the east side of downtown.
In a May 28 letter sent to City-County Council President Vop Osili, a representative for the authority said the agency has “restarted the process of decommissioning the Heliport.” That process, which began in 2020, has been on hold for more than a year.
The Heliport property is integral to Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett’s plan to entice Major League Soccer to bring a club to Indianapolis because the land would make up the eastern portion of a stadium site.
Jonathan Weinzapfel, general counsel for the Indianapolis Airport Authority, said the authority decided to continue decommissioning the heliport after reevaluating the plan alongside city officials in light of public comments submitted to the Federal Aviation Administration.
“With that review completed, the IAA … has been communicating with the FAA to address final public comments and questions which were a result of the Federal Registry process,” Weinzapfel’s letter to Osili said. “We hope to receive confirmation in the near future from the FAA affirming our decision to close the Heliport and look forward to working with the City on the redevelopment of that site.”
IBJ has requested additional information about the decommissioning process from the FAA.
The city said in April 2023 it would commission an analysis of the site to determine its best use. While that review and analysis process has begun, the report “is not yet complete,” Hogsett administration spokesperson Aliya Wishner confirmed Friday.
Wishner, director of communications for the city, did not immediately respond to follow-up questions about why the decommissioning plan was resuming despite the analysis not being finalized or what would occur if the analysis determined the heliport should remain open.
Information from the Indianapolis Airport Authority shows that in 2019, the most recent year for which data is available, the heliport saw just under 1,700 total operations—takeoffs and landings—compared to nearly 3,400 a decade earlier.
Decommissioning the heliport is a needed step in the city’s effort to redevelop the site because the property cannot be sold by the airport authority until after that process is completed. But unlike some other properties in the vicinity of the proposed stadium site, the 5.4-acre site isn’t likely to present hurdles in the acquisition process for the city if it is decommissioned.
The Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development in June 2021 signed a memorandum of understanding with the agency giving the city exclusive rights to acquire the site for redevelopment purposes. The city would be required to pay fair market value—which typically is determined through the average of two independent appraisals.
The move to resume closure of the heliport, the sole tenant for which is IU Health’s Lifeline aircraft, comes after a more than one-year delay sparked by pushback from businesspeople and aviation enthusiasts who would prefer the property remain open.
That effort was led by Chuck Surack, a Fort Wayne businessman who owns Sweet Helicopters and several other aviation businesses and has since become a part owner in the Indy Eleven soccer franchise, which is fighting to keep its own stadium district plans alive on the west side of downtown.
The airport authority has been exploring decommissioning of the heliport since 2020, said Weinzapfel, “due to lack of use and excessive cost of operations and maintenance.”
IBJ has requested additional information from IAA about operation costs and regular use of the property.
Weinzapfel said the authority is also working with IU Health to construct new Lifeline facilities at Indianapolis Regional Airport in Hancock County, which would allow it to relocate its operations from the heliport.
IU Health did not immediately return a call requesting comment Friday.
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The IAA is not looking down the road.
This heliport, although currently being utilized very lightly, will become more important as the city and metro area grows and traffic becomes denser.
This is not a good decision.
And moving Lifeline away from its hospital base is an even worse decision.
Help me out here….what hospital is close to the existing heliport?
And isn’t it possible that the new IU Health/Methodist complex can house a heliport on-site or very close?
I trust the FAA and Airport Authority to know more about this…than the amateur experts here.
There’s docs from the 1950s that suggest Indianapolis city officials really thought helicopter commuting from the suburbs was going to happen and wanted to have multiple helipads opened throughout the city.
I don’t think it’ll ever be a thing. Driving here is way too easy. We could double or triple our density and it’d still be fairly easy to drive here.
Won’t be sad to have the helicopter noise gone from over our house! And yes, I know I live downtown and I am used to the normal noises of the city. The helicopter sound echoes between buildings and is truly obnoxious.
A decision they will live to regret!
Although, maybe we could do a Spark on the Helipad.
That would be a better place for Spark than the Circle. There, or on the former train deck over Meridian.
The City had to compete to get this Heliport in the 80s. It was considered a real coup for our downtown to have it.
With all the emerging technologies, particularly in electric aviation, are we selling ourselves short?
Can we really afford not to have a heliport?
If it’s in the wrong place – where is the right place?
I don’t see what’s the concern? The city is build a $4 billion dollar new hospital downtown. You mean to tell me that another Heliport couldn’t be built at a new location downtown? I think more is made about this than really matters. Anything can be built if its needed
There is no ‘right’ place for a heliport in Indy:
>The 80s heliport fever was all bark and no bite. It once made sense for news agencies & IMPD to have their own helicopters, but now they all just use drones. Heliport usage is at all-time lows accordingly.
> While IUH still uses the heliport for helicopter parking and fueling, it’s not like they are using helicopters to transfer people from Downtown to their hospitals. IUH goes all across the region to pick people up and take them the most appropriate hospital. As long as they have a place to park/stage these helicopters somewhere in Central Indiana, they’re fine. Regional airports suit them well.
> eVTOLs commuting and/or helicopter commuting will never be economical for most people in Indianapolis. Downtown Indy is in the center of the metro, and it’s remarkably easy to get there from anywhere else in the metro. It’s also 18 minutes from the airport in worst case conditions. It’s not like LA or NYC, where there is enough demand for helicopter usage among the upper middle class & wealthy to make helicopters a relatively affordable way to get around. The economics come into play with eVOLs. In Indy, the super rich can build helipads Downtown with ease to get their easy in & out. Nothing will change for them except that their helicopters will need to be stored somewhere else. Other rich people can just pay for police escorts to skirt by traffic. Us normies have easy drives compared to most cities, and basically always will unless Indy somehow gains 8 million people overnight.
@Kevin P. The City isn’t building the new Methodist, IU is solely financing it, the City Of Indianapolis has NOTHING to do with it!!!!
Its interesting how people feel there is a need now and in the future for a helipad but so many feel no need for mass transit and dedicated bus lanes.
That’s because those idiotic dedicated bus lanes ROYALLY SCREW UP TRAFFIC!!!! Look at how severely the $$ losing RedLine screwed up College, Shelby, and Capital!!!
Best comment Greg S! Spot on!
I wonder how many of the commenters own helicopters.
Great News!! Move this city Forward and stop hindering progress!! It’s gonna happen anyway!!! Build Build Build!!!!!! And keep Building!!!
Obviously, since I was the developer of this facility with two great Vietnam Helicopter veterans and Chuck Caagan, Director of the Department of Economic Develpment for the City at the time, I am saddened to see it go. Many months of study and research went into the development of this development. The work with the media, emergent health needs of the hospitals and emergency issues for the community law enforcement, coupled with the great endorsements from many major Indianapolis Businesses and the willingness of the Indianapolis Airport Authority to establish a fuel and service facility made it a very viable entity then and even more so now. Have the original Economic Development Bonds, that Indianapolis did to support the financials of this facility that were sold to Cincinnati Insurance Company been paid? Is there any remaining outstanding debt on those bonds that the City must pay off to close and develop this for another use? All the ongoing use questions and debt issues need be discussed, and further study and analysis needs to be weighed carefully, just to forego the Diamond Chain site, Will another sports venue outweigh the needs and uses of the Heliport?