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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowAfter a three-hour meeting in a room packed with supporters of the Indy Eleven, a City-County Council committee on Tuesday narrowly advanced a proposal pushed by Mayor Joe Hogsett’s administration for a taxing district on the east side of downtown to support a potential Major League Soccer stadium.
Members of the eleven-member Rules and Public Policy Committee approved the professional sports development area, or PSDA, by a 6-4 vote with one abstention, sending the proposal to the full council for consideration at its June 3 meeting.
Only one of four Republicans on the committee, Josh Bain of District 21, voted in favor of the proposal.
“I want to thank the passionate residents who shared their perspectives tonight, as well as the members of the City-County Council’s Rules and Public Policy Committee for supporting Proposal 175 in a bipartisan way, showing that they believe in the potential to solidify our status as the greatest sports city in the country,” Hogsett said in a written statement issued after the vote.
Councilors who spoke ahead of the vote expressed little enthusiasm about voting in favor of the district, which is competing against a separate PSDA already approved by the council that would support a proposed soccer stadium by the Indy Eleven’s ownership along the east bank of the White River on the site of the now-razed Diamond Chain Manufacturing Co. facility.
“It pains me to say—my job is to do and tell people what they need to hear, not what they want to hear,” Councilor Dan Boots, an attorney, said prior to his vote, “I will be voting in favor of Proposal 175 and I encourage my fellow councilors to do so.”
Boots, a Democrat, noted beforehand that he grew up playing soccer, has four children in the sport and was previously a season ticketholder for the Eleven. He told attendees he had to cast aside his emotions and focus on the goal of securing an MLS team.
Boots also gave a list of demands he said he would fight for in the future of the MLS application, including that Indy Eleven and Keystone Group owner Ersal Ozdemir should be included as part of a future ownership group and the name “Indy Eleven” should be retained.
Chief Deputy Mayor Dan Parker pitched the tax district as Indianapolis’ only shot at securing a MLS team in Indianapolis. He said the mayor would not submit an application to MLS using the already-approved PSDA, which supports building a stadium on a former burial ground where remains have recently been uncovered.
In giving their reasoning for voting in favor, several councilors said the burial ground findings played a key role.
Councilor Carlos Perkins, a Democrat representing District 6, said he found records of a man he believed to be the founder of his church among those buried at Greenlawn Cemetery, which occupied part of the White River site in the 1800s before being occupied by the Diamond Chain plant for more than a century. He said he was voting in favor of the proposal to honor those buried, not necessarily due to support of the proposal.
“I am disappointed in the way the administration handled this project,” said Perkins, who is pastor of the oldest Black church in the city, Bethel Cathedral AME Church. “I still have questions.”
Councilor Kristin Jones, a Democrat representing a large portion of downtown—including both PSDA sites—urged her fellow councilors to vote ‘no’ on the proposal.
“I believe we still have the duty to uphold that previous commitment laid out under that original PSDA,” Jones told the committee. “I believe our integrity relies on us keeping that commitment.”
She argued that the Hogsett administration’s decision not to submit the already-approved PSDA, even if a second isn’t passed, undermines the power of the council. The City-County Council approved the Indy Eleven PSDA plan in December with a 23-1 vote.
In a emailed statement, Indy Eleven spokeswoman Alexandra Miller praised the fans of the team who turned up at the meeting to object to the mayor’s plan.
“We are heartened by the compelling support Indy Eleven and Eleven Park received this evening and continues to receive,” she said. “Tonight’s meeting showed a troubling lack of details from city officials as to the why and how of their decision making, and it is our hope that the full Council will stand up for their constituents and taxpayers and demand transparency as Indianapolis prepares to walk away from its commitments to Near Westside neighborhoods.”
Hogsett administration officials had a lengthy back-and-forth with councilors ahead of the public comment period. Faegre Drinker attorney Scott Chinn laid out some of the dynamics of the proposal on behalf of the Hogsett administration.
Parker cited a funding gap in the proposal for Eleven Park, saying the Hogsett administration had to choose to “either accept defeat or find another way to build a professional soccer-specific stadium in Indianapolis.” Chinn said the funding gap could be as much as $243 million.
If the full City-County Council approves the proposal at the June 3 meeting, the measure would return to the Metropolitan Development Commission. The MDC could confirm the establishment of the PSDA at its June 26 meeting.
Council President Vop Osili, chair of the committee and sponsor of the proposal, told reporters after Tuesday’s vote that he believes the council will approve the proposal.
Several questions arose before the vote regarding the ownership group, which is being formed by soccer executive Tom Glick.
Chinn said the group would likely be known before the PSDA map is submitted to the state budget agency, but after the June 26 MDC meeting. He did not specify when the submission will be made to the state budget committee, but said approval will be based on the state’s timeline.
Leaders of MLS made clear to Hogsett that the city’s “lane” was in financing the stadium, Parker said, not forming the ownership group. He added that the Hogsett administration does not currently have a relationship with the ownership group.
That ownership group is required under the state law to contribute 20% of the total cost of the development.
The Hogsett administration would then coordinate with the MLS ownership group to submit the expansion club application to MLS, which Chinn said it anticipates doing before the end of 2024.
The city would be charged with a commitment to finance the soccer-specific stadium. Then, a financing resolution would be submitted for council consideration, as well as any request for developer subsidies.
The PSDA would collect state retail taxes, local and state income taxes, and food and beverage taxes to pay for the public portion of the stadium. Innkeepers taxes and admission taxes could also be collected within those boundaries. The taxing-district map includes downtown landmarks such as Circle Centre Mall, the former Anthem headquarters on Monument Circle, the City Market campus and Jail I—along with the heliport property and surrounding parking lots.
Andy Mallon, executive director of the Capital Improvement Board of Marion County, told the committee the soccer stadium would follow “the Indianapolis way of doing these projects,” where sports facilities are constructed with public funds and owned by the CIB’s building authority. Lucas Oil Stadium, Victory Field and Gainbridge Fieldhouse were all developed under that model.
Site work is already underway at the Keystone Group’s $1.5 billion mixed-use project, called Eleven Park. Plans call for the development to be anchored by the stadium but include a wide variety of commercial and residential buildings as well.
The city is now in the process of trying to purchase the Diamond Chain site from Keystone, with Hogsett indicating he might want to turn the property into a memorial park or other public amenity.
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Excellent
The city looked bad tonight at the presentation.
No—-the city looked like an entity that was watching out for our tax dollars. And holding feet to the fire—-especially the potential team owner.
Big step. Good job by leadership.
Hilarious
The City stepped in it alright.
Seems to be a great thing for the potential ownership group, not really a value add proposition for taxpayers.
Great news! But should still build eleven park but take the stadium space and add more towers with increased height and a smaller beautiful glass multiple purpose venue for sports/concerts / public engagements etc…and still make money!!!
Something smells rotten here. I’m not sure what it is, but the key players don’t seem to be in a hurry to be up front and transparent. In addition, Indy residents once again get stuck with a big bill with little return on (tax dollar) investment.
Following the necessary sequence to keep process going. “Smells” begs the current popular fall back to , “must be a conspiracy”… no one makes much money on a new sports franchise, etc. Quality of life and the opportunity that is “right now” as the league will expand … and if Indy doesn’t get in, it will be left behind. And then we will, in our populist fashion, “blame” the mayor, the city on its lack of bold decision making. Watch the process and then decide my friend.
Honestly screw MLS, they saw that USL team was going to get a stadium and completely undermined it. It’s beneficial that Indy gets a pro soccer stadium, USL or MLS. The City will be better despite which league is here.
That proposed stadium had a $243 million funding gap plus more time and money associated with the significant issues due to the graveyards. It wasn’t going to be built.
Exactly. My prediction is there will be a Ft Wayne Eleven and no MLS team in Indy by 2027.
Great, if Fort Wayne with all its problems wants to squander $243 million on a freaking soccer stadium, let them take that deep plunge.
Instead of paying the usual public subsidies to boost the egos of multi-millionaires and billionaires, Indianapolis should take the $243 million of hard-earned taxpayer money and use it for its original purpose of funding public services and infrastructure.
Christopher B., please elaborate on Fort Wayne’s problem? You just decided to pull that comment out of the big blue sky?
Maybe if the mayor actually laid out all the specifics and say exactly why MLS keeps rejecting Keystone group and Ozdemir specifically, then this all might make sense. Time the news of the bodies on the site were out, I knew this was going to turn into a failed project like Ambrose and the GM STAMPING plant. I just don’t understand why cities like Austin and Nashville can get major projects like this completed but indy struggles to? Nashville’s new $2 billion Nissan stadium is an excellent example of how far Nashville has surpassed Indy
Those cities have bold visions and strong leadership. Notice I did not say they were without some problems of their own. I love Indianapolis but am embarrassed and ashamed of this mayor and his administration. No leadership, small minded, small thinkers, and zero vision. And the saddest part is that this mayor would continue to be re-elected for as many terms as he chooses. And don’t say that this is his final term as mayor. Should anyone trust a word he says?
Michael M. I agree with you 100%. I too love Indy and I see the potential for it to truly be a great city. Seems as though Indys suburbs are on the move, Hamilton county in particular. Even FT Wayne Indiana is showing great leadership as well as the city of Evansville. Indy needs to think bold and progressive and make this a unique place from other peer cities. I saw a video on Youtube about modern cities in Asia, China to be specific and it’s mind boggling how far behind we are to them. Indy could take a page out of their playbook. The governor and city leaders went to Malaysia to get ideas on how to revamp the canal and whit river but I fear we won’t come close to building anything as bold and transformative as they do over there and that really sucks for Indy, We’re just a cookie cutter of most cities in the Midwest and we’re barely keeping up in the respect.
It’s hard to professionally articulate “The Keystone Group did not have the money or the juice to make an MLS expansion happen”. They didn’t even have the additional investor until the city stepped in with its plan. The supporters club for the Eleven has even shifted to a preferred option that would follow the city’s plan and integrate the existing Indy Eleven team.
The city wanted to get an MLS franchise, the MLS wants to get rid of an USL team. Two sides with aligned interests are what created the opening. The city sees this as a unique opening that it thought had passed it by.
The heliport site would be ideal, that whole corner of downtown could be activated and bring a cohesive district that would also bridge the gap over to Fountain Square.
I love how the Mayor is now pretending to care about the graveyard. EVERYONE involved in this project knew that this still contained some burial plots and that was in the bid to make sure they were properly respected and relocated just like the hundreds they relocated when Diamond Chain was built by the way and during every single expansion they performed over the years into the 1990’s. I have a picture of the Mayor during the huge announcement with a shovel in his hands after he gave his speech supporting the project. Regardless of what anyone thinks is the better option, what the Mayor did was underhanded and not even supported by the City Councilor in the heliport district. Indianapolis looks ridiculous right now.
He was just re-elected by a near-record margin, despite $10 million being spent against him.
Much of Indy is glad the Mayor finally got the word that the 11 group couldn’t muster the required finances (20%), and the decision to punt actually saved us all a lot of grief and money.
Your contentions about the burial site….are pure speculation.
The city conveniently leaves out several important details while selling this plan to the public.
For instance, the city is not telling the community they must purchase existing businesses that own portions of the land where the mayor wants to put his stadium. That could take years of negotiations and end in Hogsett using his imminent domain tactic. They also have to get the FAA to decommission the heliport, which will take a long, long time. That doesn’t just happen overnight – more years are added. Then, they must do traffic and land studies, develop a budget, find a developer, an architect, and a design team, present a stadium design to the community and the State, and so on. Years, and years.
Of course, Eleven Park is way ahead of the game on all this. They’re ready to start building now. But no, it’s just too threatening to the city and basketball, apparently. The moment the cemetery remains issue came up, I suspect the mayor, the CIB, and Simon smelled blood in the water and started their plan to give Keystone and Indy Eleven a kidney punch to get out of the way.
Even if the mayor gets his stadium, he won’t be in office anymore, and who knows if MLS will even come then? There is no guarantee they will. The entire thing is a petty, ugly move to destroy soccer in Indianapolis. Thanks Simon.