Developer and architect Craig Von Deylen is finalizing
plans for a mixed-use project 
called Fletcher Arts just west of the intersection of Virginia Avenue and East McCarty Street.
The project at 719 Virginia Ave. calls for 57 market-rate apartments, 7,000 square feet of storefront commercial space and
a 58-space parking garage. It is a scaled-back version of a proposal Von Deylen has been working on for about two years. The
first phase of the project, including the apartments and parking, will cost about $6.5 million, said Von Deylen, who has closed
on the property and is awaiting term sheets from two lenders. The commercial phase would add about $1 million, he said. Von
Deylen hopes to recruit an arts-focused organization (other than iMOCA, which has settled in at the Murphy Arts Building)
to take first-floor space in Fletcher Arts, which will sit along a future phase of the Indianapolis Cultural Trail. The project
still requires Regional Center approval. Von Deylen hopes to begin construction in late spring. The designer is Blackline
Studio, a new local firm led by Craig McCormick, who described the building's design in an e-mail: "Simple contemporary
forms are articulated to express the playful culture of the neighborhood. The design is a balance of urban fortitude and the
lightness and transience of contemporary life." Check out elevations from the north, south, east and west.
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Welcome to Property Lines, Indy's source for neighborhood real estate news. Your host is Scott Olson, IBJ's real estate beat
reporter. Edited by Cory Schouten.
Groundbreaking nears for $7.5M Fletcher Arts project
December 3, 2010
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Can IBJ please stop referring to this property as "Kessler Mansion"? What a ridiculous title for the biggest, bloated, blight in our city. It's not a mansion. At best, it's an ideal site to shoot low-budget porn. Ahhh! Another business use!
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Its stories like these that prove that a Ball State diploma is worth less than the paper that its printed on. A real institution of higher learning would have taken care of this long ago. No way should this crap be taught in a SCIENCE class.
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It is such a shame that King Ballard has made Indianapolis into Chicago south with all of the rampant corruption.
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How many of these 1,259 bills were actually heard and voted on on the floor vs how many were shot down in committee?
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When a an arrogant young guy with essentially no experience and no qualifications for the job, was dropped into an Administrator position out of nowhere by his "mentor" in the Mayor's office things seemed fishy. Sometimes things are what they seem.
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Craig, Please contribute to the Virginia Avenue street wall and place the multi-story portion of your building along Virginia Ave.
Simply having other multi-story buildings pushed to the walk's edge doesn't necessarily mean that every building should do so. I believe that the north end of the project will merge well with the adjacent structures, creating a natural flow of scale and proportion.
Great job. Love it.
will the city be giving him a bunch of money too?
Anyway, I disagree with you because with only a few multi-story buildings, the existing street wall is not well established. Good infill should re-enforce the best of what is already in existence. It should not seek to break the rules before the rules have been established. If all you want is single story buildings to define the street then I guess we simply disagree on what makes a compelling urban street.
Anyway, I disagree with you because with only a few multi-story buildings, the existing street wall is not well established. Good infill should re-enforce the best of what is already in existence. It should not seek to break the rules before the rules have been established. If all you want is single story buildings to define the street then I guess we simply disagree on what makes a compelling urban street.
Everyone's got an opinion, I respect the ones who put their actual name and not hide behind some stupid alias. I'm just say'n. . .
Matt Hostetler - You have a valid point about the street front massing on Virginia Avenue. Our current design is being driven by two factors: The limitations of the shape of the site and the current nature of bank lending for mixed-use projects such as this.
The site is triangular, and in order to make the project viable, (which means to have an adequate number of units and garaged parking spaces), the mass of the building must be pushed to the two rectilinear sides of the site (to the west and south). This results in a layout where three stories of living units can be built directly above a double-loaded parking garage, with equal numbers of units and spaces. This is similar to the footprint of the existing building on the site, but we cannot re-use much of it. We plan to recycle that building to the greatest extent possible and reuse parts of the structure that are suitable for our new use. The commercial space has always fronted Virginia Avenue, filling in the triangle and meeting the street. Since it's inception, this is the diagram that has been driving the project and which makes it economically viable.
The second and most determining factor shaping the height of the retail street front is the reality of current bank lending for retail and commercial space. Lenders have agreed to fund the apartment block portion of this project, but will not fund the commercial space unless it is 100% pre-leased. A few years ago, some developers were building commercial space fully-funded by bank loans with little more than a letter of commitment for 30% of the space. That does not happen today. Therefore, the size of the commercial portion of the building was decreased in the hope of finding a feasible way to build both the commercial and residential portions at the same time. Craig Von Deylen is working diligently to find a way to make this happen.
We would love to see the street facade on Virginia Avenue be two stories tall. That would cost more to build, and likely need to be leased at a higher rate. If a tenant is interested in this, it could be done. We also agree that a green roof on the single-story building would be a great amenity, and we are currently planning a green roof in our budget. Again, there is a fine economic line dividing what is feasible based upon what tenants will pay in a very competitive market, and all the progressive and urban ideas we would like to implement.
One last point regarding the height of buildings on that stretch of Virginia Avenue: At a glance, there are equally as many one-story historic buildings as two-story buildings on adjacent blocks, possibly more. As I stated, from a design perspective Blackline would prefer to design a two-story street front, but we are content with the one-story street front considering the adjacent context of buildings. It is important for privately-developed projects such as this one to get built in this economic climate, and we're doing our best work to make that happen with the most elegant yet feasible design solution.
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Sunshine Coast real estate
And just one last comment on the existing nature of Virginia. I agree, there are many one-story structures along that stretch of Virginia, which in my mind, makes a stronger case for doing something more than that. Virginia is a great opportunity for the city to develop a strong urban street, the strongest in the city. These types of sites present us with the opportunity to further develop Virginia as a positive example of urban design in the city.
I do appreciate the ambitions of the project and the continued development of this corridor. I just want to see the best design possible. We often applaud projects simply because they are happening, often somewhat oblivious to the designs presented. I see the strong design intent here, I just wanted to express my concerns and comments over it. I am a strong supporter of this neighborhood and want to see it grow in the right way. I do thank you for coming on here and posting an explanation of the design process.
Thank you for responding to our comments on this forum!!! I don't think most developers would be this responsive.
I'm not sure I completely understand your argument... Is the issue that the financing for the commercial and residential portions of your project coming from different sources? You are essentially building a mixed-use project but not a mixed-use building right? Is the financing for a mixed-use project which does not include a mixed-use buildings vs. a mixed use building really all that different? Isn't the amount of risk the same in both scenarios?
Could you build the single story commercial building in such a way that it could support an additional floor and then finance a residential project on top of that platform?
Either it looks like an old housing project from Chicago's bygone era of bad public housing or the resurrection of the old YMCA near the IUPUI campus. Chicago has had the good sense to demolish building that looked like this years ago -- hopefully somebody in Indianapolis will put a stop to this eyesore before it's built.
Proof that money can buy a lot of things except good taste.
If you think this looks like Cabrini Green, then we have different eyes - and it wasn't demolished for aesthetics. That's ridiculous.