The $8B Plan Reshaping Downtown Indianapolis

There is over eight billion being poured into downtown Indianapolis right now. This is the largest building boom in Indianapolis's history. The indie your grandma knew is about to be unrecognizable. I'm Tyler with Roots Realy Co. We've helped 400 families plant roots and build wealth [music] through real estate right here in Indianapolis. Today, I'm walking you through the biggest developments shaping the downtown Indianapolis skyline and what that means for investors and who's your homeowners alike. Before we talk about the actual developments, let's talk about why Indianapolis and why now. What sets Indie actually apart? I think the first is the economic engine that Indie has starting off way back with the Eli Lilly Company. This is sort of the baseline of our economic engine and they've been pouring tons of money through their endowment into the parks into nature and bringing tons of high wage salaries with them. And there's tons of other companies associated with Lily, Cortetova, Eleno, etc. Tons of spin-offs. But what that's led to through our stable, strong economic climate is population growth. So, Bank of America just released a study that in uh 2023, we were the fastest growing metro in the nation, surpassing cities like Los Angeles, New York, Miami. And so, that steady population growth uh is another reason why Indie is just set to go boom. And then lastly, we are a massively developer friendly town. So there's tons of development companies. Milhouse, TWWG, the Simon Group. I could name 10 more development companies and that is because we are a very low red tape and businessfriendly environment in Indianapolis. So if you're a developer, whether or not you're based here locally or out of state, you can actually get crap done. You can actually go through the process and our local regulatory political climate will support that. And so all these things are putting together the recipe to go boom and just start developing really like crazy. There's eight billion developments coming here. And what's wild is you can still go on Zillow right now and you can find 150 200k homes on the market. That is about to be slated just off the table not even remotely possible. When eight to10 billion dollars of wealth gets poured in our city and the skyline gets leveled and rechanged, it's going to be frankly unrecognizable. So, with that being said, let's break down these six Indianapolis developments changing our skyline forever. A quick aside, most people overpay for insurance or worse, they're undercovered and they don't realize it. We partner with Jackson Blevens at Core Insurance Solutions. He's a full-ervice broker here locally in Indianapolis who handles everything from home, auto, boat. He can do it all and he understands the retail side and investor side of the game. If you want someone who can shop the market for you and tailor correct coverage for your property, connect with Jackson in the description below. If you're local to Indianapolis and you've been driving down the highway, you've seen this massive, beautiful glass building shoot up out of nowhere. What is this? This is the Hilton Signia Hotel. It's going to be the largest hotel in Indiana of any Indiana city, which is mindboggling. So, it's 38 floors, 5,500 rooms, and [music] it costs over 700 million. It's the topof-the-line Hilton hotel that they only do in great markets that have tons of tourists. And why are they building this right here, right now? They're building it right here right now because it's positioned next to Lucas Oil, massive Colts [music] uh concert venue, Colts Stadium, uh Georgia Street, the entertainment district, and the convention center, which is one of the top convention centers by traffic of any city in the US. So, this is going to house, frankly, all these people cuz there needs to be many more hotel rooms. We have a massive shortage and they're building it right in the center of the city, kind of connecting everything through cool little tunnels. So, even if you're out there in the winter, you don't have to freeze and walk on the streets. You can just go in your warm little commuter [music] tunnel. Number two, I'm super pumped myself about this one. It's called Traction Yards, built by Hendricks Group, the same group that did the development at Iron Works and Keystone and also Bottle Works on Massav is building an open air outdoor mixeduse venue right where the Circle Center Mall was. So, if you remember Circle Center, the Regal Theater and the uh food court that was there, it kind of just went, I hate to say it, down the tubes. Nobody was going there and nobody I know was going there and they're just leveling it. So, it's literally about to be leveled. They just vacated all the tenants and they're building a brand new area. And what's cool about this is this district is not just going to have shops and restaurants. It's actually going to have people living there. So downtown is changing from just a tourist town that kind of goes dark on the weekdays and nights to a place where people actually live and play and dine and shop and eat. And it's going to be really neat. I think it's going to change downtown a lot to make it more of a residential vibe. Not to mention, they're spending $600 million on this project. Quick break for a second. If you're doing any kind of renovation work in Indie, you already know finding the right vendor partners is half the battle. It might be the entire battle. Best Flooring is one of those partners for us. Phil Nelson and his crew offer the best selection out there. From a single bathroom refresh to a full gut job. Check them out at Best Flooring on Lake Plaza Drive. Use Apple Maps to get there or Google Maps, whichever one of your choice. Phil's got floors and you need them. Call them up. For number three, Indie is going bougie. We're getting our first ever Ritz Carlton Hotel right downtown across from Gamebridge where the Pacers play. The developer on this is actually the owner of the Pacers and Fever, Herb Simon. And this is attached to a 4,000 cap music venue by Live Nation. So, I think it's really cool the combination of these two things. One, this is going to be huge for Gainbridge and the Fever and the Pacers having this high-end super luxury hotel, but then the concert venue is awesome because it's kind of bridging the gap between a Lucas Oil or a Ruof that can have a Taylor Swift or a Morgan Wallen and then some of these smaller venues like the Egyptian Room or the Hi-Fi because it seats about 4,000 people. So, I'm pumped for this. I can't wait to go to a concert there. It's going to be really cool. For number four, and this one's already coming up right now. It's really exciting. This is the Fever Sports Entertainment District. So, this is all connected to Gainbridge and the Ritz, also developed by Herb Simon. And this is going to be the largest and most high-tech WNBA facility in existence. This is going to be built right on the old Maring County jail site. And honestly, I think it's a huge disgrace to have a jail right in the middle of downtown, a massive eyesore. So, I think this is going to do wonders in taking an old jail and turning it into a worldclass sports entertainment center. If you like luxury apartments and cool historic buildings, you're going to love this one. The old coal motor manufacturing plant, which is over 110 years old, is being reconverted into luxury style loft apartments, 213 apartments, and they're going to keep the old bones, which I love. So, high ceilings, giant factory grade windows, and uh all the old historic fixtures that you love mixed in with a cool 1920s Henry Ford vibe. These are going to be really, really neat. Pause. A quick break from the episode. The lender you choose will make or break your experience. That's why our team at Roots consistently works with Rnado Lima from Approved Mortgage. He communicates clearly, moves quickly, and understands both retail and investment loans at a high level. When my guy Renado's on the deal, things move steady. When you get serious about buying, click the link in the description and contact Ronaldo today. For number six, if you've flown into Indianapolis International Airport, you've seen this one. The skeleton is up. It's going to be a beautiful all glass 253 room Weston Hotel. And I think what this signals is that Indianapolis is no longer a flyover state. Instead of it just being a random parking garage, this is going to be a beautiful worldass architectural gem of a hotel right by the airport. For some cities, they build a new building and woohoo, that's just it, a new building. But we're interconnecting it all through two different functionalities. One is the red line, blue line, purple line. There's other lines, too, I believe. But the IndieGo system is going to interconnect all this and make it so you don't really have to have a car to live in Indianapolis, which is wild. So, for example, you're going to be able to go from Cumberland way out the far east side all the way to the airport passing through Irvington and downtown [music] without a car, which is just going to do wonders for what's possible for commuters. As well as the cultural trail, which if you live in Indianapolis, you probably know this one and you love this one. It goes through Fountain Square, goes through Massav, but it's going to be extended up through Indiana [music] A and more along the south side by Lucas Oil. So, it's just going to make more indie way more walkable and [music] interconnected through its density. So, to tie it all together, what does this mean for investors and local hooers? For investors, the story is way more jobs, especially in the service industry. So, right now, there is a lot of cheap homes around Fountain Square, around the near west side, and those homes are going to be huge for the workforce needed to employ all these new developments. So, buying in the path of development is going to be key. and buying in really before all these developments happen because prices are going to start going up very quickly. For local hooers, I think the thing to realize is the old Indianapolis that you grew to love, a small medium-sized city, nothing really buzzworthy, is all changing. If companies like Hilton and Ritz Carlton are betting on Indianapolis building brand new buildings from the ground up, you can be assured that prices are about to skyrocket. Real talk, the affordability window of buying a starter home for 200,000 or a move up home for 400,000 is ending very quickly. So, what local Hoosiers need to recognize is in the next 2 to 3 years, if you want to lock in a home in those price ranges, you need to do so quickly because prices are going to be going up and going up very quickly. As a local Hooser myself and someone that invests in Indianapolis, I think all of these developments are incredibly exciting uh and a little bit scary to see all the changes and frankly more tourism and activities and hosting happening in Indianapolis. I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments. What are you excited about with Indianapolis's future? And if you're seeing all these changes and you're kind of nervous about what this means for prices and affordability and monthly payments, schedule a call with us. We have the link in the bio. I'd love to talk to you about your goals and how to navigate this very dynamic and changing market.