Indianapolis City Market redevelopment to showcase historic catacombs
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The redevelopment of the City Market campus in downtown Indianapolis will start on the west side of the block this year, leaders say.
One of the most notable parts will be to take the historic catacombs and expose them for people to see from the street. The West Plaza will be sunken in to expose the catacombs, all while providing recreational green space.
Megan Vukusich, the director of the Department of Metropolitan Development, said Wednesday during a news conference, “We’re working with Indiana Landmarks, which really is helping provide that technical expertise from a historic preservation standpoint, but we are going to be daylighting the catacombs that sit below the West Plaza today, still retaining a portion of them.”
The City Market, located at 222 E. Market St. just south of the City-County Building, was closed March 1. Both the east and west wings of the building will be demolished as a part of this year’s project. They are not historic buildings, although the center Market House is.
Bill Taft, the senior vice president for economic development at the Local Initiatives Support Corp. in Indianapolis, said Thursday, “We were really happy to see this get used for 13 years or at least 12 years as a place where the community came together, and it has become a place that has a lot of great memories for me, and I am a little sad to see it going.”
The redevelopment of West Plaza will be part of the first phase of the project, which will also see a vacant office space known as the Gold Building transformed into 354 apartment units. About 10% of those apartments will be available as affordable housing. The cost will be $185 million, according to a Department of Metropolitan Development news release issued Thursday.
Vukusich said, “We’re excited to bring that building back online as residential units which addresses the need for housing in our community.”
Leaders says the West Plaza green space will serve as an amenity for the community and the people in the new apartments living directly above this area.
Redevelopment of the Market House will start in Phase Two.
A date to start redevelopment of the east side of the block has not yet been determined.