Indianapolis plans to pilot a low-barrier shelter on city-owned property and create a master leasing program in which the city would lease units on behalf of property owners to low- or no-income individuals.
“My business model completely changed,” said Downtown Comics owner Doug Stephenson of the Market Street store. “If you look at my sales chart, everything moved from Wednesday, which is traditionally the biggest day for comic stores … to the weekends.”
Loree Everette’s biggest concern about downtown has nothing to do with the typical complaints involving homelessness, safety or cleanliness. It’s that living downtown has become so popular it’s unaffordable for too many people.
Many parts of downtown are thriving—particularly neighborhoods, where rents are rising, people have to stand in line for a lunch table, and investments are flowing. Other parts—especially downtown’s central core, where many workers might come to the office only once or twice a week—are limping along, pockmarked by vacant storefronts, panhandlers and crumbling sidewalks.
Nearly 29,000 residents now live downtown, up from about 15,000 in 2010. It’s a number that has been growing as developers continue to add apartment and condo units in the Mile Square and downtown neighborhoods.
Downtown law firms say they have good reasons to remain in the heart of the city—from logistical concerns to the desire for a central location to the prestige factor they associate with a downtown address.
While the state and the city have come together on major downtown projects over the years, there’s sometimes tension between what Indianapolis officials would like to see from the state and how the state views its responsibility to the capital city.
Cummins, Rolls-Royce, Eli Lilly and Co., AES and Elevance Health are among the city’s largest downtown employers and all say most of their workers have the option of working at home at least part of the time.
As state and city leaders grapple with reinvigorating downtown and contemplate the future economic drivers for the region, arguably nothing holds more promise than the further activation of two of the state’s most powerful research engines.
We have begun transforming underutilized city-owned properties into mixed-use residential hubs. That added housing comes alongside other major residential projects and will be surrounded by infrastructure that improves mobility for residents with or without a car.
The Indy Chamber has a central role activating the regional business community, collaborating with elected officials and not-for-profit partners, and mobilizing resources toward strategic, long-term solutions. We embrace these responsibilities.
We need a return to the type of civic responsibility and corporate investment that rebuilt Monument Circle, re-envisioned Circle Centre, and empowered employees to get involved in the downtown civic ecosystem.
Our lived experience is in stark contrast to the thinly veiled insulting words some nonresidents use to describe our neighborhoods and the business environment as of late.
It will take a collaborative effort from city officials, public safety, business owners and creatives to provide access to small-business owners and investors like myself who want to grow downtown and move forward, together.
To build on the attractiveness of the downtown residential sector, we should invest more in the kind of quality-of-life amenities we enjoy and seek out in other cities, like parks and open spaces, playgrounds, public art and public restrooms.
This means investments in affordable housing, new work opportunities, public safety, and enhancing downtown’s appearance and attractiveness.
According to crime data for the Mile Square over the past three years—the only such data available that includes figures for 2022—violent incidents are down from the pandemic peak years of 2020 and 2021 in all categories except robberies, which were up 43%, from 56 to 80.
The developer plans to put a 20,000-seat soccer stadium for the Indy Eleven right along the White River, which is on the western edge of the former Diamond Chain manufacturing site.
Elanco Animal Health CEO Jeff Simmons says Indianapolis faces “significant realities” it must tackle to become a destination for talent, companies and innovators.
There is a growing concern that downtown’s appeal and vibrancy is waning and that something must be done.
