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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndyGo is preparing to move its Open Door paratransit operations to the Haughville neighborhood on the city’s near-west side and after purchasing two parcels of land for that purpose.
At a special meeting Tuesday, IndyGo’s board of directors voted to allow the agency to make an offer to purchase an empty lot at 412 N. Tremont St. for no more than $107,500.
As a public agency, IndyGo is prohibited from buying real estate for more than its appraised value, and $107,500 represents the average of the two required appraisals received for the parcel.
The Tremont Street parcel is adjacent to 2425 W. Michigan St., which IndyGo purchased in November for $2.55 million from Lilanew Realty 1 LLC. That property, which includes a 28,880-square-foot building on a 2.33-acre lot, was formerly occupied by the IT firm Kinney Group, which has since relocated to Carmel.
Paratransit operations cover services for individuals with disabilities not able to use fixed routes. Currently, IndyGo’s paratransit operations are based at 2222 Hillside Avenue on the northeast side. That location doesn’t provide enough space for office staff to maintain proper social distancing, IndyGo said, and it also lacks indoor parking space for IndyGo’s paratransit vehicles. IndyGo plans to build such a parking facility at the Tremont Street site.
IndyGo spokeswoman Faith Chadwick told IndyGo that the agency hasn’t set a move-in date but expects to relocate paratransit operations to the Haughville site sometime this summer.
Over the past several months, IndyGo has been evaluating numerous properties around the city for possible acquisition. Last month, the agency purchased the former Celadon Group Inc. headquarters at 9503 E. 33rd St. off of Post Road. That property includes three buildings totaling 110,910 square feet on a 10-acre parcel.
IndyGo, whose employee base and bus fleet have swelled in recent years because of the Red Line and other system improvements, has said it intends to retain its existing headquarters at 1501 W. Washington St. but has outgrown the available space at that location.
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