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The Carmel City Council on Monday night narrowly approved a $19 million tax-increment financing bond for a proposed $123 million real estate project that would feature a boutique hotel, office space, apartments and a parking garage near City Hall.
Carmel-based Novo Development Group LLC and the city of Carmel are working on a project called Proscenium III at the northwest side of the roundabout at South Rangeline Road and Executive Drive. Plans include 120 apartments, a 125-room hotel, 63,000 square feet of office space, 15,000 square feet of retail space, 508 parking spaces and a public plaza.
Changes to initial plans decreased the number of apartment units from 152 to 120, added up to 40 age-restricted apartment units for people ages 55 and over, and added a curb and parallel parking spots along Veterans Way.
Members of the council voted 5-3 to approve a $19 million developer-backed tax-increment financing bond for the project, which was introduced at the council’s July 15 meeting.
Councilors Adam Aasen, Tony Green, Ryan Locke, Rich Taylor and Jeff Worrell voted to approve the TIF bond, while council members Teresa Ayers, Anita Joshi and Matthew Snyder voted against the ordinance.
Ayers and Snyder cited concerns about building more apartments in Carmel, while Joshi worried that the age-restricted apartments would not feature more reasonably priced units for Carmel residents who cannot afford premium prices.
Snyder also expressed concerns last month about adding more apartment units in Carmel.
“I’m tired of doing things that help the people that don’t live in Carmel,” Snyder said Monday night. “It’s about time we start taking care of our own and that means listening to them, and not just continuing to add more and more people, at least for a period of time, so we can see what the ramifications are from what’s already been built.”
Before he voted in favor of the ordinance, Green said he has been hesitant about approving more apartments, but he said the value of the hotel, office space and age-restricted units led him to vote to approve the ordinance.
“I’ve traditionally been very hesitant on apartments across the board, but it’s just one of those in the right place at the right time,” Green said.
Aasen also said that while “it doesn’t feel good to approve more apartments,” the hotel and office space are both needed in Carmel.
“The positives of a world-class hotel and world-class office space in our core I think kind of outweighs that, especially when you throw in the age-restricted component,” he said.
Before council members voted, Mayor Sue Finkam said she supports the Proscenium III project because Carmel needs additional office space and another high-end hotel to complement the Hotel Carmichael. She said the hotel would be “one step down” from the 122-room Hotel Carmichael, which is part of the Marriott Hotels Autograph Collection
“This gives us much-needed office space,” she said. “There’s not a week that goes by that we don’t have a corporation interested in moving in our core, and we have nothing to offer them because we are very, very sold out in our core for office space.”
Carmel and Novo Development Group previously partnered on the first two phases of the Proscenium complex.
Proscenium’s $85 million first phase was completed in 2021 on the northwest corner of South Rangeline Road and West Carmel Drive.
The project’s first elements—a 100,000-square-foot Agora at Proscenium office building and a 600-space subterranean parking garage—opened in summer 2020.
A 196-unit luxury apartment complex (called Ver at Proscenium), 15,000-square-foot restaurant building and a 22-unit condominium building opened in 2021 to complete the first phase of development.
Proscenium also has one restaurant on site—101 Beer Kitchen—and a salon and spa, Lux Lab Hair + Body. Indiana’s first Wahlburgers eatery operated at Proscenium before it closed in July. The 4,600-square-foot Proscenium tavern, which is expected to house an Italian steakhouse and a wine-coffee bar, received approval last year.
Construction is expected to be complete this year on Proscenium’s $18 million second phase at 1215 S. Rangeline Road.
The five-story Proscenium II will feature 48 rental units and seven penthouse condominiums, 15,000 square feet of ground-floor space for retail and office uses, and a 120-vehicle multilevel parking garage.
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