Developers plan affordability-minded $25M apartments along Monon Trail

Monon 22 rendering from Blackline Studio

A pair of Indianapolis-based development firms plan to build a $25 million apartment property along the Monon Trail on the near-north side.

Plans call for the 111-unit, three-building project, known as Monon 22, from Brown Capital Group and Chase Development to occupy 2.3 acres at 1011 E. 22nd St., adjacent to the pedestrian and bicycle trail. The site was formerly home to a Habitat for Humanity ReStore and other industrial users.

The development partners, operating as DJ BCG Monon 22 LLC, have the land under contract from the Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership, which acquired the site in February 2022 for $2.25 million.

As part of its agreement with INHP, the developers have committed to at least one quarter of the apartments being set aside for workforce housing, which has reduced rent rates for individuals and families making up to 80% of the area’s median income.

The project would consist of three, three-story buildings: two longer north-south oriented buildings and a smaller structure with an east-west orientation. In total, the project would have 132 bedrooms and each apartment is expected to have a step-out balcony or a patio.

The project is also expected to have 106 surface parking spots on-site, most of them along Winthrop Avenue on the west side of the property.

While Monon 22 has been supported by INHP, City-County Councilor Zach Adamson (who represents the near-north side) and multiple neighborhood groups, city staff pushed back on some aspects of the development.

In particular, the city’s Department of Metropolitan Development sought fewer parking spaces—or an enclosed parking structure—because of the proximity to the trail. Staff also expressed concern about overdevelopment of the site, a lack of green space, and potential encroachment on the trail and other public right-of-ways.

Even so, a request to rezone the property from industrial uses to the planned development designation was unanimously approved Wednesday by the city’s Metropolitan Development Commission.

Jarod Brown, CEO at Brown Capital Group, said projects like Monon 22 will play an important role in supporting current and future residents, particularly those whose employment is tied to ongoing real estate projects running from downtown to the north side, like the new IU Health hospital campus. He also said the project would benefit from being along the Monon Trail amid continued investments by the city into multimodal infrastructure throughout the city.

He also said that while city staff was opposed to the current site plan, the Department of Metropolitan Development has expressed support for the effort to incorporate more affordable housing along the Monon Trail.

This isn’t the first project, by a long shot, to be developed in the corridor. In fact, Brown previously led local firm Birge & Held’s development of The Grounds, a 236-unit, apartment development with 12,000 square feet of retail at 22nd and Central Avenue, just a few blocks west of the Monon 22 site.

“This whole area will have a significant need for additional housing, both single-family and multifamily, across all product types” in the coming years, he said. “So, as we see this area grow with some of the significant job drivers that we have, such as IU Health, there’s going to be a need for that.”

Brown said while the project is not eligible for state-distributed Low Income Housing Tax Credits, the developers plan to request tax-increment financing bonds from the city—with a likely stipulation that more than 50% of the units would have to be for those making up to 80% of the area’s median income.

In recent years, the city has required TIF-backed residential projects to have at least 5% their units designated for those making 30% of the area median income or 10% of their units designated for those making 50% of the area median income.

Before that, projects with at least one-tenth of its units set aside those making for 80% of the area were considered for the incentive. Last year, the city made another change to its practices, allowing developers to pay between $750,000 and $1 million per project (based on a funding formula) toward the city’s Housing Trust Fund, which fills funding gaps for affordable housing and permanent supportive housing.

“Now that we know what we can build, just from a density standpoint, we are going to save incentives, based on our commitment to great workforce housing,”  Brown said. “We feel really good about delivering this project in that location.”

Indianapolis-based Blackline Studio is the architectural firm on the project, which is expected to begin construction in spring and be finished by late 2025.