Byrd’s flying north to renovated Fountains facility

The Carmel banquet center formerly known as The Fountains is being remodeled to accommodate new tenant Jonathan Byrd’s Catering.

Located at 502 E. Carmel Drive, the 37,378-square-foot former Marsh store anchors Buckingham Cos.’ Carmel Marketplace commercial area.

Plans call for adding an entrance canopy (for drive-through pick-ups and drop-offs) as part of a façade facelift.

Interior renovations also are planned as part of the $1.6 million project, Ice Miller attorney Tim Ochs told the Carmel Clay Plan Commission’s special studies committee this month.

Work is expected to start this fall, and the to-be-renamed facility could reopen by the end of the year.

Ochs said the banquet and conference center construction is the first phase of a broader—and more extensive—Carmel Marketplace overhaul.

“This will anchor the rest,” he said, making the center “financially viable enough to push the balance of the renovations through.”

Details are still being worked out, but Ochs said the second phase likely will include an extension of AAA Way north of Carmel Drive, then through the shopping center and into Buckingham’s adjacent Mohawk Hills apartment complex.

A detached strip center east of the former grocery store may be demolished as part of the project, he said. (The in-line retail west of the banquet center is likely safe.)

Buckingham also is working to refresh the apartment complex as part of a scaled-down version of its long-awaited Gramercy project. Renovations are under way.

A south-side institution, Jonathan Byrd’s is spreading its wings, with two forays into Hamilton County this summer. The Carmel deal announced Friday comes on the heels of last month’s news that it will open a restaurant in an indoor sports arena planned for Grand Park in Westfield.

“We’re absolutely thrilled to add to our plans and presence in Hamilton County,” owner Ginny Byrd said in a prepared statement. “This is a great step for our company as we continue to expand and build on our 26 years of catering and event experience.”