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A Zionsville-based developer is preparing for the next phase of development at a 48-acre residential and commercial project along Michigan Road in Zionsville.
Pittman Partners plans to build up to 225,000 square feet of commercial space on the remaining 23 acres at The Farm at the southwest corner of the intersection of Michigan Road and Sycamore Street.
Sam Pittman, a development manager for Pittman Partners, told members of the Zionsville Town Council this month that the first phase of construction at The Farm—a three-building 400-unit multifamily complex called The Sylo Apartments—is expected to open next year. Indianapolis-based Scannell Properties is working with Pittman Partners to develop the apartments.
The high-end, market-rate apartments will have amenities that include a golf simulator, saltwater pool, virtual fitness lab, work-from-home space with conference rooms, pet spa, dog park, bike maintenance room, covered parking and an outdoor pavilion reminiscent of the Pittman Farms barn, which used to occupy the site.
Pittman said the second phase of construction will involve building a “mixed-use neighborhood retail center” with medical, dining, fitness, grocery, retail and financial services businesses.
“We see the center having a lot of daily-needs drivers and the type of place you can expect to visit three to five times a week, whether you’re getting your nails done or grabbing lunch, grabbing groceries,” he said. “We hope to provide a lot of different uses.”
The second phase is estimated to cost $49.9 million, according to documents submitted with the town. The Zionsville Town Council on Monday will consider $1.345 million in tax-increment financing bonds to support the second phase of The Farm.
Pittman said the initial part of the second phase will involve building 42,500 square feet of commercial space along the perimeter of the site near Michigan Road and Sycamore Street. The backs of the buildings will face the roadway, and the structures will be sunken with a retaining wall built to hide dumpsters and other items that will be behind the businesses.
The initial part of the second phase is expected to be completed in summer 2025, while the rest of the second phase should be completed by early 2027, Pittman said.
Companies working on The Farm include Indianapolis-based architecture firm Delv Design; Indianapolis-based engineering firms American Structurepoint, Circle Design Group, and Lynch Harrison & Brumleve Inc.; Indianapolis-based landscape architecture firm Context Design; Florida-based consulting firm InfiniSys Electronic Architects; Floyds Knobs-based leasing firm 7D Commercial Real Estate; and Minneapolis-based architecture firm BKV Group.
Indianapolis-based Shiel Sexton Co. is the construction manager for the apartments, while Gilliatte General Contractors is managing construction of the commercial development.
“We used the same architect on the multifamily phase and the retail phase, so the buildings all kind of flow together as one,” Pittman said. “The campus is going to have a cohesive look with a lot of materials that are similar.”
For more than 30 years, the Pittman family owned and farmed the land at the corner of Michigan and Sycamore, where the familiar red barn greeted drivers heading to Zionsville.
Pittman Partners is owned and managed by Steve, Scott and Chad Pittman—three of the five children of late heart surgeon and real estate developer John N. Pittman—whose death led to a family squabble about land. Pittman Investors LLC owns the land.
In 2013, the town granted Pittman Partners a rezoning of the 62-acre property as a planned unit development allowing multifamily housing, retail and office uses.
Redevelopment of the former farmland was expected to cost $90 million and include 150,000 square feet of office and retail space, high-end estate homes and 400 multifamily units.
But a five-year legal battle among members of the Pittman family over the estate of patriarch John N. Pittman delayed the project.
In 2020, Steve Pittman and his brothers, Scott and Chad, reached a settlement that resolved several legal cases brought by siblings Mark Pittman and Anne Kelton. That cleared the way for The Farm and The Bridges in Carmel, a 65-acre mixed-use real estate development on West 116th Street, between Spring Mill Road and Illinois Street, to proceed.
The settlement established a framework in which Steve, Scott and Chad Pittman would buy out the other two siblings’ share of The Farm and The Bridges.
By 2021, The Farm was expected to be a $150 million project on 48 acres, while a portion of the property and another previously owned by John N. Pittman were auctioned off.
“This is a site where I used to live when there was a house on the property and spent a lot of weekends with my grandpa working on this property, and we know what a key corner this is and don’t take the responsibility lightly. The opportunity is not lost on us,” Sam Pittman said. “We want to establish a gateway to Zionsville, create connectivity and complement downtown Zionsville, as well as set the standard for future development in Zionsville.”
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly identified Scannell Properties as a developer on the second phase of The Farm. Pittman Partners and Scannell Properties are developing the first phase at The Farm, while Pittman Partners will develop the second phase.
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