INDIANAPOLIS — The Department of Metropolitan Development (DMD) recently released three Request for Proposals, calling for housing and mixed-use development in Martindale-Brightwood, the Near Westside, and the Near Eastside. The three City-owned neighborhood sites are part of the administration’s affordable housing and inclusive growth strategy.
The first location in the Martindale Brightwood neighborhood at 2434 & 2444 Winthrop Avenue, the Colonial Bakery Affordable Housing RFP is part of the city’s strategy to create and preserve affordable housing in neighborhoods that have experienced discriminatory housing practices, and that are now seeing rapid property investment. Proposals for the Colonial Bakery site are due on February 17, 2022.
DMD is seeking proposals for affordable housing development on four acres of vacant City-owned land on the Near Eastside, at the intersection of Michigan Street and Sherman Drive. The site is located within the larger Sherman Park property, once home to a major RCA/Thompson/General Electric manufacturing facility and employment anchor until the plant’s closure in 1995. Sherman Park consists of approximately 50 acres of current and former manufacturing sites and was the focus of a community-led planning process in 2018 in partnership with Near East Area Renewal (NEAR) and funded by a federal grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
In 2017, DMD acquired the tax delinquent brownfield site and immediately began demolition and environmental remediation efforts to unlock redevelopment potential. After extensive site preparation, the City of Indianapolis partnered with RecycleForce and broke ground on their new headquarters in October 2021. Carrying forth the momentum created by RecycleForce, Sherman Park was recently announced as the future location of the new City of Indianapolis — Animal Care Services facility. A groundbreaking is expected later in 2022. Proposals are due March 25, 2022.
The Central State RFP offers three site opportunities to developers within or adjacent to the 148-acre Near Westside campus — the Old Indianapolis Fire Station 18, the Powerhouse, and the Tibbs Garage Complex buildings. Responses for the Central State RFP are due on April 18, 2022.