Beyond 2012 (Super Bowl Legacy, Part 3)

The countdown on the host committee’s website now reads 363 days. With Dallas soon a distant memory, Indianapolis is now the focus of the NFL for the next season. We have been writing the last few days about the impact of the big game on a neighborhood close to home and where we work. We are seeing a wave of projects and unprecedented investment into this area, a lot of it driven by the excitement, promotion, and investment of the Super Bowl. Even though we understand the NFL is only investing approximately $1.2 Million, the other non-monetary benefits have included the publicity, the celebrity, the ego competition between benefactors, and the focus of the city and state for participation and recognition. Of course, there are the entrepreneurs in the community out there working toward new business opportunities as well. Among the newest businesses, check out the new grocery store on 10th Street, Pogue’s Run Grocer, a food co-op serving the eastside community. It is projects like this that bring neighbors and community groups together.

Those working the hardest today in the neighborhood seem to be the community development corporations trying to get new projects off the ground or turned around. Across the street from the new People’s Health Center which is wrapping up construction soon, more construction just began on the St. Clair Apartments (shown above), which will feature 4,000sf of commercial space and 33 senior apartments in a three-story building fronting 10th Street. Indy-east Asset Development (IAD) and the Riley Area Development Corporation are jointly developing the project and Milhaus is providing development/brokerage services to the team. Check out Halstead Architect's site for some good renderings and a site plan.

Nearby, Milhaus is helping the East 10th Street Civic Association and IAD on strategies for this building (shown at left), known as the Mayfair Building. Further down the street at the intersection of Oakland Street, the East 10th Street Civic Association and Riley Area Development Corporation are co-developing a 49,000sf mixed-use building to be known as Clifford Corners. Milhaus is assisting the team with development and brokerage services. This project is one piece of a completely redeveloped intersection that includes plans for a “Legacy Plaza” and the already completed new Brookside Elementary School. It’s incredible what a community can do with a shared vision, the right tools, and a Super Bowl.