City-County Council approves $18.8M for Gold Building, City Market redevelopment
Indianapolis Star
The City-County Council unanimously approved $18.8 million for the redevelopment the Gold Building, the adjacent office building and City Market East in a Monday meeting.
Indianapolis-based-Gershman Partners and Indianapolis-based Citimark are redeveloping that city block in a project estimated to cost upward of $175 million.
The first phase of the redevelopment plan involves converting the more than 400,000-square foot Gold Building into apartments, as well as upgrading the 530-space parking garage and 200,000 square feet of office space at the adjacent office building at 251 E. Ohio Street. The second phase proposes demolishing the east wing of the City Market to build a new 11-story building with residential, office and retail space.
Gold Building will have 340 apartments
The Gold Building, which currently houses the county public defender offices just north of City Market, will be converted into 340 apartment
The first phase of the project, the Gold Building and Ohio Street buildings, were approved for up to $12.3 million in tax-increment financing, and the new construction of the second phase will receive up to $6.5 million in tax increment financing, meaning property taxes from the project will pay back the debt.
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The 420,492-square foot Gold Building, which Gershman Partners purchased in 2019, began construction in 1973 and opened the following year. Gershman Partners’ purchase of the building included the tower at 251 E. Ohio St., and the parking garage, which make up the whole block.
Construction on the Gold Building could start as early as this summer, once the tenants move out of the building, deputy mayor for economic development Scarlett Andrews said in a committee meeting about the project in January. Work on the East Ohio building is already under way, Andrews said, as the current tenants from the Marion County Public Defender's Agency move into the Community Justice Campus in Twin Aire.
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While most of the apartment units will be market rate, 20 to 40 affordable units will be incorporated, according to the development plan presented to the council committee.
The 11-story tower replacing the current east wing of the City Market will include 60 multifamily residential units, 28,000 square feet of retail, both pop-up and permanent, and 8,000 square feet of office and civic space.
The project also will turn the alley of Wabash Street in between the City Market and the first phase office buildings into a pedestrian corridor ideal for biking and walking, with lighting and art, Eric Gershman, principal with Gershman Partners, said.
The east wing of the City Market formerly housed the downtown location of Bicycle Garage Indy, which recently moved to a warehouse on the city's near-eastside near climbing gym North Mass Boulder. The market's west wing is home to co-working space The Platform, and the middle section between the two wings is home to the market's food court and other vendors.
