INDIANAPOLIS — City officials, RecycleForce, and community partners recently celebrated the groundbreaking on the new RecycleForce headquarters at Sherman Park. Sherman Park is located at Michigan St. and Sherman, and formerly the home of RCA. The property has been vacant for many years.
RecycleForce, the Indianapolis re-entry and workforce development non-profit, received $13 million in New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) funding and 7.5 acres of land at Sherman Park, on Indianapolis’ near-eastside.
“Our New Markets Tax Credits program is one of the most effective tools in making community development projects successful, and this allocation will help support the creation of RecycleForce’s new home on the Near Eastside,” said Mayor Hogsett.
RecycleForce is a 501(c)3 that is committed to reducing crime through employment and job training, while improving the environment through electronics recycling. Since 2006, they have safely recycled more than 65 million pounds of electronic waste while providing job training to thousands of returning citizens.
“We’re returning home,” said Gregg Keesling, president of RecycleForce. “And Sherman Park is going to be the forever home of RecycleForce. We look forward to putting our roots down where we can truly grow and tackle hopelessness and the crime that it causes.” RecycleForce called part of the old RCA plant home for a few years when they first started, then moved to other locations on the east side.
In 2018, the city announced a push to redevelop the site, a 50 acre brownfield. The RCA plant once employed thousands of people in its heyday. Part of the property was developed in 1921 by Westinghouse, where light bulbs were made. In 1930, the company sold it to RCA, where the company began manufacturing radio and audio equipment, plus records (it pressed most of Elvis Presley’s 45s in the 1950s). However, as manufacturing moved out into the suburbs, then out of the country, RCA closed the plant in 2000. A few businesses moved into the aging buildings, including RecycleForce, in the early 2000s, but moved out. An investment company thought it had potential for redevelopment, but after discovering contamination on the property, let it sit vacant. The city acquired it in 2012 for past taxes, and in 2018 the buildings were demolished.
The Hogsett administration has awarded over $110 million in NMTC funding to projects including the Wheeler Mission Center for Women & Children, Madam Walker Legacy Center, 16Tech Citizens Shop, and PR Mallory.
“Nothing could be more comprehensively redemptive for the site, lives, and resources than what is being planned through Recycle Force. The Near Eastside community is anxious to see environmental justice served, lost jobs replaced, and lives restored across this former home to RCA and 8,000 jobs,” said John Franklin Hay, executive director of the Near East Area Renewal. “This is just the beginning of what we hope will become a place of transformation for many.”
The Sherman Park and RecycleForce announcement marks the largest single site for economic development on Indianapolis’ Near Eastside in over 20 years.
