INDIANAPOLIS — Boxcar Development LLC, the development arm of the Simon family that owns the Indiana Pacers, the Indiana Fever and Pacers Sports & Entertainment, announced a $300 million plan to build a high-end hotel with retail space and a concert venue on the property of the former CSX Warehouse at Georgia and Pennsylvania streets near Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
”That structure would include several elements,” said Attorney Phil Bayt, representing Boxcar Development. “The first would be a luxury hotel, branded by Shinola. The second would be a 4000-person capacity music venue that would be operated by Live Nation. In between those two uses would be an area for additional retail and event and gathering space.”
Shinola is the brand name of a luxury hotel in downtown Detroit and associated with a line of products which include timepieces and handbags.
”We’re very pleased to be able to partner with Shinola and Sage to create a new opportunity for luxury hospitality here in Indianapolis,” said Bayt.
In 2022, the Simons announced plans for an apartment building and hotel development for the corner.
Bayt said reevaluation of the project and the downtown market, along with the hosting and entertainment potential of the immediate Gainbridge neighborhood, led developers to revamp their plans.”We were quite happy with the apartments and thought it would be a good use but the Simon family has a long history with Live Nation through Pacers Sports & Entertainment and when we became aware that Live Nation was looking for a venue in downtown Indianapolis that was in the four thousand person capacity range we began talking with them and the excitement began to build very quickly around creating an aspect of this project that would be for the venue and so evolved away from the apartments and into this venue that we think will be very synergistic with what’s going on at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, what’s going on at the Bicentennial Plaza and that would also be very synergistic in respect to the new hotel.”In the last two years the Simons have constructed Bicentennial Unity Plaza and an event center that hosts Commission Row, a Cunningham restaurant, on Delaware Street.The Metropolitan Development Commission recently approved construction of a Tempo by Hilton hotel just up the block from the Fieldhouse at Maryland and Pennsylvania streets.”We think there’s room in the marketplace for a premium experience and we hope to be able to capture that especially along that corridor starting on the west with the Convention Center and anchored on the east by Gainbridge Fieldhouse,” said Bayt who added that the Shinola Hotel will be connected to the Fieldhouse by a skywalk.Gainbridge and the Pacers hosted the NBA All Star game last February which attracted well-heeled participants and attendees.”There was very very high energy centered around the All Star events culminating with the game,” said Bayt. “The entire downtown was just buzzing. The energy and electricity. There were many opportunities for people to utilize. Bicentennial Unity Plaza had really just open at that point. Commission Row. The building that is on the Plaza. We saw firsthand that there was going to be significant demand through those kinds of events and other events whether its NCAA events or Pacer or Fever events or concerts that would be able to be a tremendous draw for the hotel and likewise the music venue that we’re creating would be an equal opportunity for a draw for both the hotel and but also to the restaurants and other entertainment events that are either gonna be nearby or part of this development.”Bayt said the concert venue on the parking lot to the south of the CSX Warehouse would fulfill a niche for a small-to-medium size entertainment.”That was a missing piece of the puzzle with respect to entertainment, certain types of entertainers, bands, etc., play to a certain crowd level niche number of capacities etc. and the particular capacity was vacant in the marketplace in downtown and Live Nation is very much interested in filling that niche as are we.”The Simons’ original plan presented to the Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission two years ago found that the CSX building was outmoded and did not lend itself to renovation, hence the request next month for approval to tear down the ancient five-story building.”We would be in front of the Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission at their August 7 th meeting,” said Bayt. “We expect that we would receive comments from our plan especially because it has not been in front of them for a couple of years. There’s a lot of new information to share with them. We would be hopeful of a September approval at their following meeting. That would then allow us to begin the process of demolition which would occur starting in late October or early November, then we proceed with construction for an opening in late 2027.”
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