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Westfield announced plans Thursday for a $164 million mixed-use redevelopment project with the aim of creating a central business district.
If approved, Park & Poplar would be built on eight acres along the Midland Trace Trail, south of Park Street and between Mill Street and Westfield Boulevard.
The development would be southwest of Union Square, west of Grand Junction Plaza and east of the new Westfield-Washington Public Library.
Plans for Park & Poplar call for a boutique hotel, office space, retail and luxury multifamily residences. The development would also have a public parking garage for people visiting nearby businesses and attending community events at Grand Junction Plaza.
“We are excited about the potential of Park & Poplar to invigorate downtown Westfield,” Mayor Scott Willis said in written remarks. “This project will meet current community needs and contribute significantly to the revitalization and walkability of the area, creating a premier destination for our residents.”
The Westfield City Council has not yet reviewed plans for Park & Poplar, and the city is working on a developer agreement for the project with a yet-to-be-announced firm. The development’s construction schedule has not been determined, but the city plans to open the parking garage by spring 2027, according to Westfield Director of Communications Kayla Arnold.
Westfield Economic Development Director Jenell Fairman said the city has purchase agreements in place for the properties it needs to purchase for Park & Poplar.
Those include two vacant houses that will be demolished this summer. On that site, temporary surface parking will be in place for Park Street businesses before the boutique hotel is built in the second phase of construction.
Fairman said two existing businesses, My Logo Shop (320 Parkway Circle) and Esler’s Auto Repair Inc. (350 Parkway Circle), also plan to relocate from the Park & Poplar site.
The Central Indiana Redevelopment Authority this week awarded Westfield a $4 million grant for Park & Poplar from the Indiana Economic Development Corp.’s READI 2.0 funding. CIRDA distributed $45 million in grants to 21 projects in central Indiana as part of its “Main Street Matters” initiative.
Park & Poplar would add to the new development in downtown Westfield.
Grand Junction Plaza, a six-acre, $39 million public park, opened in 2021 featuring greenspace, trails, an amphitheater and an ice-skating rink
Union Square, under construction on the city block south of State Road 32 between South Union and Mill streets, is expected to have dining options, 196 apartments, a 300-car parking garage, 17,000 square feet of retail space and a 40,000-square-foot office and retail building. The project being developed by Carmel-based Old Town Cos. was originally approved in 2019.
Sun King Brewing Co. plans to open an 8,700-square-foot taproom and food hall at Union Square.
Local restaurateur Henri Najem plans to open a $6.4 million, high-end steakhouse called H Steakhouse with more than 200 seats and a year-round patio at the southwest corner of Jersey and Mill streets.
The $17.7 million Westfield-Washington Public Library opened this month at the corner of Park Street and Westfield Boulevard in Grand Millennium Center.
The redevelopment of downtown Westfield will also include a $21.7 million reconstruction of State Road 32. The project will expand S.R. 32 from two lanes to four from Poplar Street to Timberbrook Run beginning next year.
The city and state are splitting the cost of the road project. Westfield has control over project design, while the Indiana Department of Transportation is paying for land acquisition, utility relocation and construction.
INDOT is overseeing the $80 million project that will widen the road to four lanes and build seven roundabouts for five miles between Westfield and Noblesville.
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CIRDA awarded a $4M grant to help build a luxury downtown in one of the hottest real estate markets in the state?
honestly crazy
Yeah, don’t you know that CIRDA is only supposed to give grants to billionaire backed luxury developments in downtown Indianapolis like the Circle Centre redevelopment?
Every city in Hamilton county is developing projects like this. It’s actually what’s needed to attract out of state talent and retain instate talent to stay in Indiana. To be honest, it’s something the Westfield has to do to compete.
Nonsense
If Westfield didn’t juice it with government incentives and tax breaks, we’d have tumbleweeds blowing through the entire town within 6 months.
You sir are correct!! Everybody that’s Anybody knows it also. Smart man!!!!!
No matter what is developed Westfield or any city should not own hotels and entertainment venues. They are interfering with the private sector when they start running businesses. Government has endless money the private sector does not.
That argument is backwards thinking and the very reason why Indiana gets left behind by other more progressive states like Tennesse and other sunbelt states. Indy for example had to step in to build the new signia hotel downtown when the private sector couldn’t secure favorable loans. Indy knew to retain the largest conventions in the state the city had to react and FAST. Indy was in serious jeopardy of losing those conventions to other cities like Nashville and ATL. People must remember that a city is ran like a Fortune 500 company and that it’s in the business of generating money. The other hotels downtown Indy complained that a new large hotel would saturate the market yet independent studies showed that if Indy wanted to retain its current inventory of conventions and to lure another Super Bowl, NFL Draft or GOP convention, more hotel rooms was definitely needed. In Westfield’s case, it’s the trying to build off the success of Grand Park. When out of state visitors come to your city, they need things to do besides eat at restaurants. You have to provide extra entertainment. Westfield is doing what every city in Hamilton county is currently doing and that’s building a better quality of life for family’s and out of state transplants. You have to build an environment to lure companies and out of state talent. The cities and states that gets the concept will benefit while those that dont will wither away like dry grass with population lost. Look at Anderson and Muncie Indiana for examples
Out of control development…