News

Claire Rafford

 

Indianapolis Star

 

USA TODAY NETWORK

 

The Metropolitan Development Commission approved a request from developers to rezone 200 acres of land at 86th Street and I-465 residential to commercial for a $500 million development in northwest Indianapolis following a lengthy and contentious public hearing Wednesday.

 

The developers, Indianapolis-based medical real estate firm Cornerstone Companies and Johnson County's GCG Investments, LLC, first proposed the project back in March. The 200 acres located north of 79th Street, south of 86th Street, east of Conarroe Road and west of I-465 is former farmland that's been for sale for years. Cornerstone Companies has the land under contract, CEO J. Taggart Birge confirmed at a public meeting earlier this year.

 

Neighbors expressed concerns about the project, including how the development would impact drainage and wildlife and traffic in the northwest Indianapolis neighborhoods. The Pike Township Residents Association, as well as scores of neighbors, opposed the project at a lengthy public hearing July 27.

 

Original proposals for the mixed-use development, dubbed The Crossing at Traders Point, include a hotel, apartments, senior living space, retail, medical facilities, life sciences research and office space. The development park is projected to bring $4 million in real estate taxes to the area, according to Cornerstone.

 

However, since the July hearing, developers made additional concessions to residents and slight changes to the development plans.

 

Most notably, Cornerstone and GCG committed to almost 50 acres for a nature preservation area, in an attempt to appease neighbors concerned about commercial development close to their land, as well as 15 acres for common park space. The nature preserve will serve as a buffer for the existing homes bordering the development.

 

Adding greenspace eliminated the designated senior independent living from the plans, which originally included 23 acres including 200 homes for adults 55 and older. In the updated plan, that was combined within the approximately 35 acres that could be used for apartments and residential projects.

 

Developers' updated proposal decreased the acreage of the life science and light business and manufacturing developers also increased the size and square footage of the outpatient medical facility, as well as the acreage of the commercial and retail space.

 

Documents filed with the city also specified at least 10 acres would be set aside for homeownership through town homes or condos, and that any potential hotel built on the property would be high quality. At the behest of the residents' association, Cornerstone and GCG also committed to prohibit several types of businesses in the development, including gas stations and nightclubs. The developers also committed to prohibiting short-term rentals.

 

But these concessions are too little, too late for some community members. Susan Blair, president of the Pike Township Residents Association, told Indy Star on Tuesday that though the association appreciated the developers' concessions, it wasn't enough to engender their support.

 

"While they came a long way, with not only their commitments, but with their site plan," Blair said, "there's still just too many mitigating factors to solve that it hasn't changed PTRA's position. We are still opposed."

 

Cornerstone said the developers' commitments address many of the concerns of neighbors and stakeholders through months of conversations and engagement.

 

"We have agreed to a significant preservation area, which includes the majority of the heritage trees and wetlands that currently exist on site," a Comerstone spokesperson said in a statement. "As proposed, 64 acres will be designated for the preservation area and common park space, which accounts for 33% of the overall acreage of the site."

 

Traders Point neighbors previously expressed concerns about the size of the facility and the increased traffic stress it would cause on already busy roads, such as 86th Street. Concerns also arose around the environmental impact of a property such as this, much of which is wooded, with old trees and a sizeable wildlife population. A portion of the land slated for development is zoned "environmentally sensitive" on the city's interactive land use mapping tool, PlanIndy.

 

Some also said they believed there was not sufficient demand for the retail and commercial aspect of the Crossing due to over 500,000 vacant square feet of storefront space in the nearby Trader's Point shopping center.

 

Many area residents said they preferred that were the property to be developed at all, that it be used for large, single-family homes. The developers have maintained that the property has been for sale for years and residential development is not economically viable for this site.

 

Following the Metropolitan Development Commission's green light, the project faces one final rezoning approval from City-County Council on Sept. 11.