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On the heels of breaking ground on the Eleven Park stadium district last month, Indianapolis-based Keystone Group is asking the city to rezone nearly 11 acres of surface parking nearby, opening up options for redevelopment in the future.
When asked by IBJ for details, a Keystone official declined to reveal any specific plans for the property in downtown’s southwest quadrant—other than its continued use as parking.
The company, which is developing the $1 billion Eleven Park project to the north, wants the city to reclassify the nearly 11 acres of land at 601 and 701 Kentucky Ave. from its existing industrial designation to that of CBD-2, which would allow for mixed-use development. Such a designation could allow parking structures, apartments, office and hotel uses and retail development.
Keystone only controls a portion of the property in question. A 3.1-acre parcel—bounded by Kentucky Avenue, Sand Street and McCarty Street—is owned by Keystone through a holding company, 701 Kentucky Avenue LLC. It quietly acquired the parcel for $4.5 million in 2021.
The remaining land sits directly east of that site, on the western portion of the former Valspar site near Lucas Oil Stadium that is owned by the Indiana Finance Authority. Both the Keystone and IFA parcels are currently used for sports-event parking in the area.
The land held by the IFA is obligated to be used for downtown sporting event parking until 2035, largely to accommodate Lucas Oil Stadium traffic.
“IFA has agreed to allow the Indy Eleven organization to go ahead and rezone” the acreage, the agency told IBJ in an email. “But the land remains IFA property for the existing parking obligation.”
Jennifer Pavlik, chief of staff for Keystone, told IBJ in an email that the move to rezone the land is part of an effort to further revitalize the southwest quadrant of downtown, including providing more parking for nearby amenities such as Eleven Park.
“With the help of other partners, we want to make sure this neighborhood is revitalized with other developments and improved streetscape and believe this corner can be a catalyst, along with Eleven Park, to transform the entire quadrant,” she said. “The rezoning of this parcel provides opportunities for Eleven Park in the future that include flexibility for additional parking that can also serve visitors to Lucas Oil, Victory Field and the Convention Center.”
The land is just a quarter-mile south of the Eleven Park district, separated by the Netrality telecommunications data center campus that sits between Henry Street and Oliver Avenue.
Pavlik declined to comment further on plans for the land, including how it might complement Eleven Park. The district is expected to be anchored by a 20,000-seat soccer stadium, along with more than 600 apartments, 205,000 square feet of office space, 197,000 square feet of retail space and restaurants, a hotel, public plazas and green space and thousands of parking spaces. It will also feature a 4,000-seat indoor event venue.
Portions of the project—including the stadium—are expected to be completed by mid-2025. Demolition on the former Diamond Chain manufacturing facility that occupies the site began in recent weeks.
Keystone cleared its first hurdle in rezoning the land on Thursday, with the Metropolitan Development Commission’s Hearing Examiner referring Keystone’s request to the full commission, although a date has not yet been set.
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Cool,much more development will follow this!
Keystone will let everyone know their plans once they have secured Loans from city and state
, TIF money and tax credits from the city.. (taxpayer).
Like every connected business in this city.
Bahahaha
You do realize that Keystone isn’t doing anything any different than any other developer across the country. Sure, some developers are more experienced and successful but the process is pretty much the same everywhere. To do major developments anywhere in the country is challenging. Some cities are just more wiling to help push the projects through no matter the cost. This is why you see such an explosion of development in downtown Nashville Tennessee. Indy is playing catch up with a long ways to go but it’s business as usual for other cities.