Three historic buildings near Monument Circle sold to Chicago-area firm

The buildings at 2 N. Meridian St., 20 W. Washington St. and 24 W. Washington St. (right to left) are now owned by Government Investment Partners. (IBJ photo/Mickey Shuey)

A Chicago-area-based real estate investment company has acquired three historic buildings along Washington Street in Indianapolis, a block away from Monument Circle.

Government Investment Partners, based in Deer Park, Illinois, purchased the buildings at 2 N. Meridian St., 20 W. Washington St., and 24 W. Washington St. for a total of $13.6 million in separate deals  that closed Oct. 4, according to property records.

The 2 N. Meridian building was acquired for $10.2 million; the 20 W. Washington St. building sold for $2.37 million; and 24 W. Washington St. was purchased for $1.02 million.

“We think this presents a great opportunity—we like what’s happening in downtown Indianapolis, in particular, as it’s got a lot of positive momentum from what we’ve gathered over the last couple of years,” said Kris Jankowski, founder and president of GIP.

Jankowski said continued investment in the city’s core drew the company to the buildings. The firm has been working to acquire the properties for more than two years.

According to IBJ research, $9 billion is expected to be invested in downtown development over the next five years, including efforts to redevelop Circle Centre Mall, the proposal for Eleven Park and numerous other projects throughout the city center.

The three connected buildings contain total office space of 161,500 square feet, with the Indiana Department of Health occupying every foot, having signed a 10-year lease extension earlier this year.

The  eight-story 2 N. Meridian building served as the longtime flagship store for retailer H.P. Wasson and Co. Designed by noted Indianapolis architectural firm Rubush & Hunter and constructed by the William P. Jungclaus Co., the Art Moderne building opened in 1937. The store was believed to be the first in Indianapolis to be completely air-conditioned and to feature an indoor sprinkler system.

The building underwent several renovations, including an expansion in the late 1940s. Goldblatt’s of Chicago acquired the Wasson’s chain in 1967 and operated in the building until closing in 1979. The building was acquired by Melvin Simon & Associates, which converted it into an office/retail complex in the early 1980s.

The 20 W. Washington building was built in 1924 and originally housed Selig’s Dry Goods Co., which operated in Indianapolis from 1895 to the early 1930s. The building was originally designed by Vonnegut Bohn and Mueller and redesigned by Elias Rothschild and Co. in 1933.

The 24 W. Washington St. building, designed by R.P. Daggett & Co., was built for the H. Lieber Co. in 1897 and rebuilt in 1920 after a fire gutted the building. The H. Lieber Co., which specialized in picture frames, book bindings and art supplies, occupied the building until 1979, when it was sold to Hook’s Drug Stores. Hook’s sold it to Hoosier Photo Supplies Inc. in 1984.

The group of buildings feature ground-floor retailers Bank of America and T-Mobile, soon to be joined by Taco Bell Cantina, which IBJ reported earlier this year signed a lease for the 2,860-square-foot former Sugarfire Smokehouse space at 20 W. Washington.

Another 12,000 square feet of retail space is available for lease in the former Rock Bottom Brewery and Pearings Cafe spaces.

“We like the proximity to the mall across the street, and the potential redevelopment there, as that will bode well for us on our leasing prospects,” Jankowski said. “I think Indianapolis is underrated. The bigger cities get the headlines, but I think Indy is doing all the right things, from what I can tell.”

The buildings were previously owned by local property investor John J. Goodman, who is expected to remain a consultant for GIP. One of Goodman’s employees also has been hired by GIP’s management division to oversee the property.

While the upper levels of the 2 North Meridian and 20 W. Washington buildings feature extensive office space, the Sugarfire building generally consists of ground-floor retail space, with vacant areas on the second and third floors. Jankowski said while those floors could theoretically be converted to residential units in the future, the cost would be too high for GIP to see a sufficient return on such an investment.

“It’s really just a shell, very dated and very old,” he said of the space. “You could conceivably do apartments, but it would be a major undertaking. It’s something where the juice wouldn’t be worth the squeeze. So it’s not in our asset plan … [but] I can see somebody potentially doing it. It would be really cool space, but it would just be pretty darn expensive.”

GIP was founded in 2016 and owns more than 30 buildings across 18 states. In addition to the downtown properties, its local holdings include the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture’s Rural Development state office at 5975 Lakeside Blvd.; and buildings at 4150 and 4160 N. Keystone Ave., which are home to the Indiana Department of Child Services.

Goodman was represented in the deal by the Colliers Indianapolis Capital Markets team, led by Alex Cantu, Alex Davenport and Rachel Patten, while GIP represented itself.