Carmel plans $101 million in bonds for roads, carousel, paths, hotel
CARMEL, Ind. (WISH) — New roads, roundabouts, a hotel project and a 110-year-old carousel are on the city’s wish list as part of a bond issue it’s planning.
Learn more about the carousel in a moment.
Two bond issues totaling $101 million are planned “to finance the projects without raising local property taxes,” the city announced in a news release Monday. Both bond issues will be considered by the Carmel City Council for approval.
Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard said in the release, “Strategic investments in our quality of life in Carmel have proven successful to our economic development strategy of attracting new businesses and corporate headquarters, whose contributions help keep our local property tax rates among the lowest in the state of Indiana.”
Specific costs of the projects were not part of the news release, but here is the project list:
Roundabouts
- 106th Street and Hazel Dell Parkway.
- Third Avenue and Carmel Drive.
- Third Avenue and City Center Drive.
- Medical Drive and Carmel Drive.
- East Fourth Street and Main Street.
- Sixth Street and Range Line Road.
Pathway projects
- Gray Road.
- Monon Greenway expansion near City Center.
- 136th Street from Range Line Road to Keystone Parkway.
Miscellaneous projects
- Antique carousel, including building and land. (Read more after the list).
- New autograph hotel at City Center project.
- Civic Square storage and maintenance buildings.
- Duke Energy transmission lines burial project (116th and Range Line Road area).
- Brookshire Golf Club improvements (new clubhouse).
- Range Line Road streetscape (Phase 2).
- River Road from Community Drive to 146th Street.
- Completion of Cherry Creek Boulevard from Mississinewa Drive to James Dean Drive.
- Legacy public site work (bike promenade, stormwater park, new intersection).
- Second Avenue Northeast from Main Street to First Street Northeast.
- Third Avenue from Carmel Drive to City Center Drive.
- Office Suites on First Avenue near Monon Greenway.
Carousel plans
A hand-carved Dentzel Co. carousel built in 1907 in Germantown, Pennsylvania, will be moved from Toronto, although the release said its location has not been set. The carousel has been operating at Centerville Island, Toronto, Canada, since 1966.
“The City will install the carousel in a central location where families, especially children, can enjoy taking a ride,” the release said. “It will be housed in its own building for year-round enjoyment and could include event space private functions and public events.”
The Dentzel carousel is one of about 150 left in the world, the release said. The ride contains 52 hand-carved animals — 36 of those are “jumpers” that move up and down brass poles — plus two ornate benches and an antique Welte-Mignon/Wurlitzer band organ.