A Cicero-based developer plans to build a $15.7 million senior health care center at 16th Street and Arlington Avenue on Indianapolis’ east side.

The city’s Metropolitan Development Commission approved the project Wednesday after accepting Mainstreet Property Group LLC’s offer to purchase the property for $912,500.

The city has owned the nine-acre parcel since September 2004, when it bought the property formerly used by Raytheon Technical Services Co. LLC for $1 from the federal government.

Mainstreet plans to begin construction in July and finish by June of 2013. The facility would include 100 beds for skilled care, short-term rehabilitation and assisted-living patients.

Nearly half of the project’s cost could be financed by $7.4 million in city-issued bonds, according to the project’s preliminary financing plan.

Deron Kintner, executive director of the Indianapolis Bond Bank, said the city is still considering the company’s request for funding but should have a decision soon.

“We’re intrigued by it,” he said of the project. “That area could really benefit from it, especially with the proximity to Community Hospital [East].”

The facility is expected to create up to 150 jobs, said Zeke Turner, Mainstreet’s CEO.

“We do like the physical location being somewhat close to an acute-care player,” he said. “We’re finding a lot of success coming into the urban environments where the options [for short-term care] are even fewer.”

The project would be Mainstreet’s first newly constructed facility in Marion County, Turner said. In 2006, Mainstreet purchased out of bankruptcy the Highland Health and Living Center in Indianapolis at 2926 N. Capital Ave.

Overall, the company owns or co-owns 13 senior health care centers in Indiana, Illinois and Ohio, and has six more under development. It also plans to break ground on up to 12 centers by the end of the year, including a $13.3 million facility in Westfield, Turner said.

Turner was featured earlier this month in IBJ's annual "Forty Under 40" feature. In the video below, he discusses Mainstreet's plans for expanding its senior-housing offerings into more states.



Turner founded Mainstreet in 2002. The company has been ranked among the fastest-growing companies in the Indianapolis area by IBJ the past three years. It had revenue of $9.6 million in 2010, up from $6.3 million in 2008.