Indy unveils $140M plan to redevelop old City Hall site. Here's what's planned.

A $140 million plan to redevelop the historic City Hall, which has stood empty since 2016, is finally underway, headed up by local developer TWG with city financing and support.

"What is coming to this site is precisely what we know our city needs: more places to live, more places to work, or places to play, all in equal measure," Mayor Joe Hogsett, who is running for reelection this year, said Tuesday at an announcement for the redevelopment plan.

The plan will include building a 32-story tower at 222 N. Alabama street on what is currently the old City Hall parking lot. The tower will house 190 new apartment units, including a mix of studio to 3-bedroom units and 24 condominium units as well as 10 affordable units for residents making 30% and below of the area median income, as part of the city's affordability requirements for projects with city financing.

TWG is also in negotiations with Louisville, Kentucky-based 21c Management LLC to brand and operate a 21c Museum Hotel, the ninth in a nationwide chain of contemporary art museums and boutique hotels, in the tower. The hotel would have 150 boutique rooms occupying floors six through 13 along with a lobby, restaurant and curated retail space.

The 113-year-old old City Hall would become home to a 21c Museum Hotel public art gallery. The city and TWG are working to determine the best use of the remaining space in the building.

"The restoration and expansion of this historic civic space is not just about building a new structure," Deputy Mayor Scarlett Andrews said at the announcement. "It is an evolution of the essence of Indianapolis, connecting our past with our future."

Hogsett's Republican challenger for mayor, Jefferson Shreve, said after the announcement Tuesday that he welcomed the redevelopment but questioned Hogsett's timing.

“It’s great to see this redevelopment finally coming to fruition, but it’s taken seven and a half years to dust off this project that began under Mayor Ballard and his DMD Director, Adam Thies," Shreve wrote in a statement. "Joe Hogsett continues to prove he’s an election year mayor.”

Old City Hall will need extensive remediation work, especially to outdated HVAC and plumbing systems. But TWG CEO and co-founder Tony Knoble said that he hopes to preserve the uniqueness and historic fabric of the building. such as retaining old City Hall's historic windows and rotunda. He cited TWG's experience on historic preservation projects, notably, the redevelopment of the old Ford Assembly plant.

"It's going to look the same as it used to," he said.

The city, which owns the property, is proposing to use a single-site tax increment financing plan to help fund the project to the tune of about $15 million, Knoble said.

The site is located with a historic preservation district so the city will be working with the historic preservation commission over the next few months on design. The financing plan will be taken to the City-County Council in October, Andrews said.

Previous plans to develop old City Hall fell through

The city has spent years seeking answers on what to do with the majestic vacant building.

Read more: Indianapolis eyes how to use historic City Hall building. It needs up to $55M in repairs

It housed city services until 1962, when the City-County building opened. From 1967 to 2002, it was home to the Indiana State Museum, then became the Indianapolis Public Library until 2007. The city used the space for various activities until 2016, when the building became vacant.

Previous plans to redevelop the site into a 21c Museum Hotel, initiated under former Mayor Greg Ballard's administration, fell through in 2017 when 21c could not hold up its end of the deal, city officials said at the time.

This time will be different, Knoble said, because TWG has an agreement with 21c as of Monday, unlike the last time.

He said he is confident the plan will work, pointing to how 21c Museum Hotels has gone through changes in ownership, with global hospitality company Ennismore acquiring the chain, and said the company is well-capitalized today.

TWG's redevelopment plan was selected after the city sought proposals last October.

City Hall development part of downtown revitalization

The old City Hall redevelopment is part over $9 billion of development downtown at a time when the downtown residential population is growing, Hogsett said.

This is the third redevelopment project launched by the city on city-owned land downtown to create a dense, mixed-use, economically active district. The city announced the $120 million Cole Motor Redevelopment of the former city jail at Market Street in August last year. In June last year, the city launched the $175 million redevelopment of the City Market East district.

Along with the upcoming Signia Hotel at Pan Am Plaza, the 32-story tower at old City Hall will reshape Indianapolis' skyline.

Contact IndyStar reporter Ko Lyn Cheang at kcheang@indystar.com or 317-903-7071. Follow her on Twitter: @kolyn_cheang.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indianapolis unveils $140M plan to redevelop old City Hall site