Indianapolis is one of the top 20 cities with the oldest average apartment buildings

A study by RentCafe looked at some of the oldest apartment buildings in the U.S.

Indianapolis was among cities with the oldest average age when it comes to present rental apartment buildings built prior to 1950.

Doug Ressler, senior analyst, and manager of Business Intelligence at Yardi Matrix, said the city holds many historic apartment buildings.

“We found here, approximately 20 properties that were in excess of competition dates from 1947 backwards,” Ressler said.

The Blacherne on Meridian Street near Monument Circle was completed in 1896 as an upscale apartment building.  It houses 68 renovated apartments and several commercial suites. 

The Carpenter apartments on East Michigan date back 111 years. The Indiana division of the Salvation Army purchased the building in 1999. It has 52 apartments that the organization rents out with financial assistance from the federal government.

It’s not just Blacherne and the Carpenter that brings a vintage touch to the city’s downtown rental market. The Richelieu, and the Dorchester are both 101 years old and home to many renters. Turnverein Apartments were originally constructed in 1914.

Ressler said many of the buildings have been “adaptive reuse.”

“In other words they were intended for something else. Could be post office or retail,” Ressler said.

Indianapolis is one of the top 20 cities with the oldest average apartment buildings that are still at it more than a century later.

The city’s old-fashioned rentals are, on average, 93 years old.