I left Angie’s List seven months before the bloodletting started last November. Over the course of my employment, I witnessed the gradual acquisition and conversion of structures on the near-eastside campus. In most cases, those disused and abandoned buildings were transformed into modern facilities that include a conference center, commissary, an old railcar diner that serves as a coffee shop, gym, and daycare center.
That the newly monikered ANGI Homeservices Inc. would choose to sell off this property comes as no surprise [Angie’s List’s east-side corporate campus listed for sale, IBJ.com, Oct. 9]. So let’s imagine how we might transform this property.
I envision this campus serving as a hub for a collection of tech startups or an incubator, where the operations all share the common amenities. Fold in a communal workspace like Speakeasy or a coding academy like Iron Works. House an area not-for-profit that’s addressing the needs of the surrounding neighborhood. Add in the long-abandoned Ford plant nearby, and you expand your possibilities even more.
Imagine the transformation when creative and collaborative people in Indianapolis come together to tackle a vision for this campus. But I may just be dreaming.
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Hugh Vandivier
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