Editorial: Moving staff into City-County Building is good for downtown and residents

The city said this week it plans to move about 550 employees who work at satellite locations around the city into the City-County Building by the end of 2024, filling up much of the space left when the Marion County courts moved to the Community Justice Campus in Twin Aire.

We think that’s a smart decision that will help downtown as it continues recovering from the pandemic and remote work, which has led to increased vacancies and fewer office workers downtown. But we appreciate that Mayor Joe Hogsett’s administration explored its options before acting.

The opening of the Community Justice Campus left about 44% of the City-County Building at 200 E. Washington St. vacant, raising questions about whether the 61-year-old tower’s best use was as a government building.

As Mickey Shuey reported in the Sept. 15 issue of IBJ, the city issued a request for information in 2021 and reviewed redevelopment proposals from three Indianapolis-based firms: Chase Development, Flaherty & Collins and TWG Development LLC.

All three proposals focused on housing, including apartments. But the execution of each varied in both composition and cost. City officials estimated that it would take at least $75 million to $125 million to repurpose the building. And after some internal deliberation, officials decided to forgo a reuse and consolidate city departments into the building.

The city estimated that the moves would save $450,000 on office leases annually beginning in 2024.

The first phase of moves includes the engineering division of the Department of Public Works, the planning division of Indy Parks, and the entirety of the Department of Business and Neighborhood Services, all of which are now in privately leased space at 1200 Madison Ave. About 300 workers will move during Phase 1, which will be complete by the end of 2023, the city said.

The city leases the Madison Avenue space for $1.3 million per year. The city estimates that the first move will cost about $2 million, including moving expenses, space buildout and furniture.

Subsequent phases will move the Marion County Community Corrections and about 150 employees roughly a block, from nearly 29,000 square feet at the former Jail I—slated for demolition next year—to space on the sixth floor of the City-County Building, alongside the Marion County Clerk.

In a third phase, 96 workers from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department’s Downtown District will move to the east wing of the City-County Building. They are currently in Union Station at 93 W. Jackson Place.

City officials say that by the end of 2024, the City-County Building is expected to be more than 90% occupied.

That’s good for the businesses—including the City Market, which will be undergoing its own transformation—around the City-County Building, and it’s also good for Indianapolis residents, who shouldn’t have to visit multiple locations to complete city business.

The changes mean that the Marion County criminal justice system is largely (although not entirely) consolidated at the Community Justice Campus, while city offices can become a sort of one-stop shop at the City-County Building.

It’s a good outcome all around.•

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