Mapleton-Fall Creek and BWI Plan $20M Senior Housing and Retail Project to Regenerate Bilghted Area in Indianapolis

by Adriana Pop, Associate Editor

A $20 million senior housing and retail project planned by the Mapleton-Fall Creek Development Corp. in partnership with local affordable housing developer BWI Development & Management Inc. could soon rise on a five-acre site north of downtown Indianapolis.

According to the Indianapolis Business Journal, the community development corporation (CDC) has received the city’s approval for the rezoning of its recently acquired property, which consists of 25 lots.

The developers are currently seeking financing for the project, which would revitalize a currently blighted area that extends from Fall Creek Parkway north to 30th Street and from Ruckle Street to the east to Central Avenue to the west.

The new development will include six mid-rise buildings with a total of 158 affordable and market-rate apartments ranging from one to three bedrooms. Plans also call for about 19,000 square feet of retail, most of which would front Fall Creek Parkway. The remaining portion of 6,500 square feet would anchor the southeast corner of 30th Street and Central Avenue.

“This will be this organization’s first development of this magnitude,” Leigh Riley Evans, CEO of the Mapleton-Fall Creek Development Corp., told the newspaper. “The 30th Street and Central corridors are among our top corridors for redevelopment.”

She added that the project would cater to seniors and children, since there are a lot of grandparents who are raising their grandchildren.

Construction on the project is expected to begin next year and be complete in 2017.

Overall, the Mapleton Fall Creek CDC aims to revitalize 27 acres of property in Indianapolis, extending from Fall Creek Parkway to 32nd Street and from College Avenue to New Jersey Street. The plan is part of its Vision 20/21 initiative to promote the area’s economic development by 2021.

BWI’s other affordable housing developments in Indianapolis include the $10.7 million Clifton Square complex on West 30th Street. The company is currently building the 57-unit project in partnership with the not-for-profit Local Initiatives Support Corp.

BWI is also developing the $10 million Penn Place housing project at 1415 N. Pennsylvania St., which will cater to homeless residents with serious mental health and substance abuse problems.

“We’ve had success working with other CDCs, but this will be our first one with Mapleton,” said Gary Hobbs, president of BWI. “Ultimately, we think it’s going to be a spark to revitalize that area.”

Photo credits: Wikimedia Commons

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