UPDATE: Noblesville eyes new site near I-69 for arena and conference center

Noblesville’s plan to build a new arena for the developmental league team of the Indiana Pacers was approved by a city board Tuesday, but with a new location closer to Interstate 69.

The Board of Public Works and Safety on Tuesday morning approved a bid proposal from Westfield-based Patch Development to build the facility in Noblesville’s Innovation Mile corridor, located between 141st Street and Interstate 69, east of Olio Road. A specific site has not been made public.

The updated concept for the 3,400-seat venue is a marked shift from original plans announced in May indicating the arena for the G League franchise—now known as the Fort Wayne Mad Ants—could occupy several acres in Finch Creek Park, about three miles northwest. In fact, the city’s announcement that it secured a 10-year deal with Pacers Sports & Entertainment to move the team to Noblesville was held at the park.

Patch’s bid was submitted during a public request for proposals and qualifications process and was recommended by a committee made up of city and PSE officials.

Noblesville Mayor Chris Jensen said the bid would allow the project to be a “bigger economic driver” than what would have come from a standalone fieldhouse at Finch Creek Park. That’s because it will not only host games for the G League team and other community events, but could also be leveraged as a multipurpose event and conference center, attracting small conventions and corporate events to the suburb.

In fact, it would generate two-and-a-half times more net spending and local taxes than what would have been created at Finch Creek, according to a recommendation memo from city officials to the Board of Public Works. It will also create 30% more jobs. In addition to the fieldhouse and a conference center, Patch Development’s project is expected to include a large parking garage—a component Noblesville already had in its master plan for Innovation Mile.

“Sometimes, the best things happen when government gets out of the way, and lets the private sector start reacting a little bit to the [ideas] that are put out,” said Jensen, acknowledging the cost of the venue is likely to exceed the original target of $36.5 million.

“It just made a ton of sense for us to re-envision this to be more than just an arena, and being more of an event center and conference center will allow us to capture some additional revenue longer-term than we’d be able to do if it was only a sports-oriented facility.”

The concept was chosen over another from Card & Associates, an Indianapolis-based firm that develops smaller athletic facilities across the country, which put forth Finch Creek Park as its desired site. Card & Associates developed the Pacers Athletic Center at Grand Park in Westfield.

“They’re constantly looking for opportunity for our city,” Jensen said of Patch. “They are people I trust—who I feel like are in sync with us on our vision of Noblesville. I was excited when their proposal came in and I was incredibly impressed. They don’t box themselves in; they think big, they’re collaborative, and they want what’s best for the city and that’s who we want to work with.”

Innovation Mile is a 300- to 400-acre master-planned district along East 141st Street between Olio and Cyntheanne roads, where city planners hope to attract companies in the medical, tech, biosciences, pharmaceutical and advanced manufacturing sectors.

Jensen said the addition of an arena signifies a further evolution of the strategy for the corridor, which is close to the Ruoff Music Center, along with Hamilton Town Center and other amenities. Innovation Mile is expected to leverage more than $500 million in private investment as it is developed over the next five to 10 years.

The arena project “made us rethink a little bit of the strategy out there,” Jensen said. “So much of the idea around Innovation Mile … has really been this whole live, work, play environment. It made sense to fold this into the fabric of that, meaning it really didn’t need to be a catalyst for the area all on its own.”

He said while a timeline for groundbreaking has not been finalized, long-held plans to improve infrastructure along Innovation Mile—particularly widening 146th Street to accommodate multiple lanes of traffic—will move forward this year.

The new arena is expected to host about 40 G League games every season, through an agreement between the city and Pacers Sports & Entertainment, which owns both the Pacers and the affiliate, as well as the WNBA’s Indiana Fever.

PSE is expected to contribute $5 million directly for the project over a 10-year period—the same length as its agreement to locate in the city—along with another $5 million through naming-rights sponsorships, which are expected to bring in about $500,000 per year. Many of the Mad Ants current sponsors are likely to not make the transition to Noblesville, since several are Fort Wayne-based, but PSE has said it would work with those that had an interest in continuing.

“Mayor Jensen’s vision for how our G League team and this facility fit into Noblesville’s economic development strategy illustrates why we are so excited about this partnership,” Pacers Sports & Entertainment CEO Rick Fuson said in written remarks. “We look forward to continuing to work through this process with him, his team, and city of Noblesville leaders.”

The G League team, which is expected to get a new name, will play its 2023-2024 season at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, starting in October.

IBJ reporter Daniel Bradley contributed to this story, which will be updated.