Collaborative housing project breaks ground in Indy's near north side

A new housing project is planned on Indianapolis’s near north side. It brings together workforce housing, transit-oriented development and environmental cleanup at a long-neglected site.

The former dry cleaners site at the corner of Illinois St. and 22nd St. has been targeted for redevelopment for years. At a groundbreaking this week Indianapolis City-County Council President Vop Osili said strong community collaboration now moves the project forward.

“Because you united around a shared goal, this once vacant and blighted area will become a neighborhood resource enriching lives and improving community health,” Osili said.

A number of partners are involved in the development including the city, the Near North Development Corporation, IU Health, the Indianapolis Foundation and the Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership.

Near North Development Corporation President Brian Carman said sites like this are all across Indianapolis.

“So turning a brownfield, something that has historically been something the neighborhood is not necessarily proud of, into something that they can be,” Carman said.

Environmental remediation is now underway for the brownfield site. It starts with a soil removal process and work will continue for the next few months.

The housing complex will sit near the IndyGo Red Line and is considered transit-oriented development which can increase urban density and improve transit opportunities.

The units will provide more affordable, workforce housing for families making 80 to 120 percent of the area's median income. The development may include about 20 townhouses and duplexes. 

The area is quickly changing, as IU Health continues work on a new $4 billion campus near the planned development.

Patricia Warner is from the neighborhood. She said the project represents the importance of community investment. 

“It means that change is good,” Warner said, “It means that the neighborhood is restoring itself in a way that I think people who don't know or who are not familiar with the neighborhood don't realize.”

The development still needs zoning approval from the city.