Indianapolis leaders set to break ground on multi-million dollar Pan Am Plaza development
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Mayor Joe Hogsett and City-County Council President Vop Osili will join Visit Indy and the Capital Improvement Board on Tuesday to break ground on the Indiana Convention Center’s sixth expansion, the 800-room Headquarter Hotel.
The groundbreaking ceremony is set for 10 a.m. at Pan Am Plaza.
The 404-foot-tall, 800-room hotel will be built near Pan Am Tower at the corner of Capitol Avenue and Georgia Street downtown. When complete, the project will allow Indianapolis to host two citywide conventions at the same time.
In May, the city of Indianapolis took over the funding of the $510 million Signia Hotel project after Kite Realty Group told city leaders it couldn’t secure financing in the private sector.
Council members approved a measure authorizing the city to borrow up to $625 million in bonds to pay for the hotel. All profits from the development will go to paying off the debts, thus avoiding a burden on taxpayers, according to council members.
Republican members of the City-County Council were opposed to the city taking over the project.
Brian Mowyer, the council’s Republican Minority Leader, told News 8 in June, “I understand the implications of not doing this project. However, it’s the idea of the city owning a hotel and then competing directly against the private sector that has me concerned and voting against this proposal.”
Kristin Jones, a council Democrat, provided an opposing viewpoint, saying that the hotel will help Indianapolis join the ranks of the top host cities in the nation.
Visit Indy told I-Team 8’s Kody Fisher in May that the city had been studying the need for this project for over a decade.
“We know 2,500 construction jobs will be generated by this project, and 400 full-time jobs to run the hotel and convention center expansion will be added, in addition to $2.6 billion in economic impact realized in the next decade alone because of this project,” Visit Indy Executive Vice President Chris Gahl said.
The project was introduced in 2018. Construction was originally scheduled for the latter part of 2022. The hotel is part of a larger Pan Am Plaza redevelopment project that includes an expansion of the Indiana Convention Center.