16th Street Corridor shows off millions in private development
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indianapolis’ 16th Street Corridor is starting to look a lot newer as the years pass, as private and public developers pour millions into the neighborhood.
The intersection of East 16th Street and Central Avenue, for example, has seen a multimillion-dollar townhome development project from Onyx & East, a million-dollar renovation of the Kroger grocery, and several home and business remodels in the last two years.
Tenishia Howard used to live in the Kennedy King neighborhood, near East 16th and Central Avenue. She has since moved to the southside, but returned for a visit this week and says she’s seen big changes.
“They are revitalizing the neighborhood. They’re putting up new buildings, they’re making it more friendly,” Howard said. “Makes me want to bring my children down here.”
Spiro Littlefield lives nearby, and says he’s seen a decrease in crime in the area.
“I feel safer. I mean quite seriously. The morale of the neighborhood is a lot better,” Littlefield said.
Howard and Littlefield also added that they appreciated the investment Kroger made into their neighborhood store.
“Just within the past year or so we’ve invested more than a million dollars to re-create the store and give it a brand new look,” said Eric Halvorson, spokesperson for Kroger. “So we wanted to try to make it match the revitalization in the neighborhood for everyone who comes in.”
Halvorson said the 16th Street Kroger is one of the company’s oldest stores and has survived the many changes to the Kennedy King neighborhood. He said when Kroger executives saw developers investing in the area, they joined in.
“As the development came back, it gave us the perfect opportunity and motivation to say, ok let’s do what everyone has wanted to do for a long time,” Halvorson said.
Onyx & East Properties just completed construction on their new townhome complex at the southwest corner of 16th Street and Central Avenue, in a complex called simply “16th+Central.” Representatives said construction finished in February and new tenants are moving in this month. Purchasing one of the townhomes begins at $400,000.
Nearby, modern apartment complex Colmar Apartments start at $850 per month, and newly-finished 16 Park Apartments rent beginning at $550 per month.