Developer proposes 300-unit, 15-building apartment complex in Noblesville

A developer has plans to build a 300-unit apartment complex on land in Noblesville that was first approved for multifamily development a decade ago.

Indianapolis-based Justus Cos. plans to build 15 apartment buildings with studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom units at the northeast corner of State Road 32 and Little Chicago Road.

The Noblesville City Council gave final approval to the project Tuesday night.

The company owns about 90 acres of property at the site and wants to build the apartments on 30 acres. The remaining acreage would be reserved for future development, including senior living units and commercial projects.

The area is currently undeveloped except for a CVS drugstore and a St. Vincent’s micro-hospital along State Road 32.

Walt Justus, president of Justus Cos., told the Noblesville City Council on Tuesday night that he has been waiting for the right time to develop the land ever since his company bought the land from locally-based Equicor Development Inc. in 2013.

Equicor hatched plans in 2006 for a 153-acre mixed-use development at the site called Promenade of Noblesville and had some of the property rezoned for multifamilly development. The development plan was sidelined, however, during the Great Recession.   

The site does have drainage issues that will need to be addressed to accommodate the proposed development. The city council agreed to reimburse Justus up to $750,000 of costs associated with preparing the land for construction.

Justus told the council eventually the company would like to build senior living units on the property, but right now, he doesn't think the market can support them. And the company will likely find another developer to work on the commercial part of the property since its focus is on senior living and residential development.

Justus expects the multifamily units to spur development activity in the area.

“The multifamily will create more demand for everything near (State Road) 32,” he said.

Construction is expected to begin by the end of the year and will take about two years to complete.

Details about expected rents and development costs were not immediately available.

Justus has developed several senior-living and independent-living facilities around Indianapolis under the Crestwood name. Its multifamily projects include the Bridgewater Apartments in Carmel.