City-County Building could eventually become new place for people to live
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Come December, half of the City-County Building will be empty and what comes next for the space is unclear.
Most city employees are relocating to the new Community Justice Campus, which will house several city services. It includes civil and criminal courts, a new detention center, the sheriff’s office and the clerk’s office.
City Controller Ken Clark said the fate of the downtown space is still in the works, and that the options are endless. Clark said part of the plan, at least for right now, is focused on more places for people to live.
“We know we need more housing downtown. We know that’s a priority of ours as we look at developing downtown, so we are going to put out a request for information to the development community to find out what it would cost to redevelop the City-County Building into housing,” Clark said.
An assessment is already in the works and should be complete this summer. At that point, Clark said, the decision will come down to dollars and cents.
“I’m going to look at the cost to bring it up to the level it needs to be for us to stay in it and see if I have tenants who will backfill if we don’t have enough staff to fill the building any longer, or what is the cost to actually redevelop it. If there is a cost to the city to redevelop it, compare the two and find out what the best use is going forward,” Clark said.
He said more office space just doesn’t make sense and added that the pandemic proved Indianapolis needs more people living downtown.
“Our interest is absolutely to bring more housing downtown so that we have more types of engagement in and around downtown and that our restaurants don’t only rely on large events but instead could sustain even in times when maybe we don’t have as many events in Indianapolis,” Clark said.
Clark said the large parking garage under the building is valuable even though it also needs a lot of maintenance, and what will happen to that garage will depend on what fills the rest of the space.
He said the city is prepared for at least one year of transition and hopes to have a definite plan before the end of 2022.