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Plans for a $35 million luxury condominium project in the Fishers Nickel Plate District will not go forward, but the land owner plans to work with the city on a new project at the site.
In 2022, Indianapolis-based Alboher Development Co. and Carmel-based Birkla Investment Group LLC announced plans to build a five-story, mixed-use building called The Rev at the intersection of East 116th Street and Municipal Drive.
The Rev would have included 36 condominiums ranging from $600,000 to $1 million, 23,000 square feet of commercial and office space, and a parking garage.
However, Fishers Director of Economic and Community Development Megan Baumgartner told members of the Fishers Redevelopment Commission last week that Alboher and Birkla decided to move on from the project. Alboher, led by company president Mike Alboher, has owned the property since 1986.
“They have now decided that that’s not the right path for a variety of reasons,” Baumgartner said. “They’ve gone in separate directions.”
Instead, the city will now work with Alboher on creating a different development at the site at 8603 E. 116th St. during the term of a three-year lease agreement.
Members of the Redevelopment Commission unanimously approved a lease-purchase agreement with Alboher Development for the property.
Over the three years, the city will pay Alboher Development $300,000 per year, which will be applied to the total principle of $7.25 million. The city can purchase the property after three years, and it can also terminate the lease with a $4 million payment between now and 2027.
Alboher did not immediately respond to a request for comment from IBJ.
The property along the Nickel Plate Trail currently has a two-story building that houses Thai Sushi House and a one-story strip center that formerly housed Source Yoga Center, North Star Vitamins & Health Center and Burn Boot Camp. People Factor LLC is still open at the strip center.
The project is the second in the past month near the Nickel Plate District to be reexamined.
Last month, revised plans for another project along East 116th Street called Maple Del were announced when a Hamilton County-based development team said it will build single-family houses and town houses at a site that was previously slated for apartments.
Corby Thompson and Steve Zinkan, who formed Mirtha Development LLC, and Carmel-based Old Town Cos., plan to build 10 single-family houses and 56 three-story town houses on 9.6 acres at East 116th Street and Maple Drive, west of the Nickel Plate District, at the site of the formerly proposed Maple Del multifamily project.
About five years ago, Carmel-based The Hageman Group purchased 16 houses in the former Maple Del subdivision. The houses were demolished, and Carmel-based J.C. Hart Co. proposed a $36 million plan in 2020 for a 190-unit neighborhood made up of three-story apartments, three-story town houses and two-story duplexes.
Last year, J.C. Hart walked away from the project after the city asked the developer to rework the plan following concerns from residents in the nearby Charleston Crossing neighborhood about the number of apartments being built in Fishers. The city then purchased the land and looked for another development deal.
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Seems a bit like real estate “hot potato”.
High lending rates and soaring construction costs likely doomed that condo plan. Not only more expensive to build but the buyer pool would also have shrunk considerably with rates at 6-8%. This 3 year plan will allow for rates to come down some and make future proposals more feasible. It’s such a prime location that it will get developed but I can understand why the initial proposal was abandoned.