In Westfield, long-sought boost comes with pain

When Andy Durnell looks out the window of Westfield Wine Vault, he sees heavy equipment and a torn-up landscape where, until last month, an intersection led customers to his wine bar.

Durnell sells more than 300 varieties of wine from around the world at his shop at the intersection of State Road 32 and Union Street. This spring, he is at the epicenter of a major road construction project that was in the works for years before finally starting in April; it’s expected to last through at least 2026.

Westfield Wine Vault is one of more than 20 downtown businesses just trying to survive the next six months during the project’s phase that has S.R. 32 closed to traffic from Westfield Boulevard to Union Street. Projections target October as the time the road will reopen to the 18,000 cars that pass through downtown Westfield on an average day.

Construction will take place in two phases. All of S.R. 32 west of Union Street and the southern half of S.R. 32 east of Union Street will be rebuilt this year, followed in 2026 by the northern half of S.R. 32 east of Union Street and a roundabout at S.R. 32 and East Street.

“It’s a long time to be under construction,” Mayor Scott Willis said. “This is probably the worst period of the construction project because everything is shut down. Most of the time during this [project], we’ll have the lanes flowing [with] construction still going on in the middle or on the outside. It’s going to make it a little bit more cumbersome to get through downtown, but the lanes will be open.”

Durnell, who opened Westfield Wine Vault in December 2020, knows the finished product will be positive for both downtown Westfield and his business, but the next few months will be difficult. Workers are redoing all four corners of the intersection at Union Street, which is also closed, and he said it feels like his business is “on an island.”

“It’s a war zone,” Durnell said. “Right now is the worst of the worst.”

With Westfield Wine Vault difficult to access, Durnell said he has had to be creative to gain sales and make people want to visit his 126-year-old building. Construction delays gave him time to prepare and diversify his revenue stream.

He developed an online sales strategy and started hosting wine tastings and classes, book club events, birthday parties and wedding receptions.

“We have figured out a way to give people reasons to come, and so we’ve elevated our experience,” Durnell said. “That has been huge for us. Without that, we really wouldn’t make it. We knew it wasn’t going to work if we didn’t do something different.”

City Councilor Victor McCarty said getting businesses through the construction will be key to what comes next downtown.

“We’re doing everything we can because we understand how difficult these possible two years of construction are going to be,” he said. “But it’s important for us to have a downtown where not just people want to be, but our businesses, because it goes hand-in-hand.”

Kayla Arnold, director of communications for the city, has taken the lead on a program called Brave the Barricades, to encourage people to visit businesses in the construction zone. Visitors can collect stamps on cards from local businesses and enter to win a gift basket valued at more than $500. The city also installed access signs throughout downtown to guide people on detours and to parking lots.

“[The project has] definitely been talked about for a long time,” Arnold said. “People were like, ‘Oh, it’ll happen. It’ll happen eventually.’ And then [it] eventually came, so they’re like, ‘Oh, we’re really doing this now?’”

Long process

Plans to expand S.R. 32 began in 2008 when Westfield reorganized from town to city status and formed a task force to create a downtown master plan. Two years later, the city hired Indianapolis-based American Structurepoint Inc. to study the S.R. 32 corridor as more people began moving to Westfield. The city’s population has tripled since 2008, from 21,000 to nearly 63,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

In 2017, city officials submitted a proposal to the Indiana Department of Transportation to widen the road. The following year, Westfield and INDOT struck a deal to set the project in motion with an initial cost estimate of $15 million, but start dates came and went as the project faced delays.

“This certainly wasn’t a surprise for anybody,” Willis said. “Before I got on council [in 2019], the plan was already set for the most part.”

Now, the city and the State Transportation department are working together on the now-$21.7 million reconstruction of S.R. 32 to improve downtown traffic flow and pedestrian access.

The city and state are splitting the cost, with Westfield in control of project design and INDOT managing land acquisition, utility relocation and construction. Construction workers with Indianapolis-based Rieth-Riley Construction Co. will expand the road from two lanes to four from Poplar Street (Westfield Boulevard) to just east of Timberbrook Run.

The project also includes the roundabout at the intersection of S.R. 32 and East Street; the redesigned intersection at S.R. 32 and Union Street; and improved sidewalks, crosswalks and signage.

The work in Westfield is part of an $80 million project INDOT is overseeing that will widen S.R. to four lanes and add seven roundabouts for 5 miles from Westfield to Noblesville.

Important piece

Curt Whitesell, a member of the Downtown Westfield Association and owner of Greek’s Pizzeria on Park Street, south of S.R. 32, said the short-term pain of the S.R. 32 project is worth the long-term gain. He said the project is crucial for the revitalization of the city’s downtown, which he described as dilapidated and desperately in need of a refresh. Whitesell also owns Westfield-based WKRP Real Estate.

“Our downtown is horrible-looking. It’s so dated,” he said. “It’s definitely going to look a lot nicer. I think it’s hard to lease space because of how it looks. If you walk down there, you stand out front as a semi roars by, and the dust kicks up. You see a million power lines and telephone poles and empty gravel space. I really think aesthetically, it’s going to change the energy down there.”

For Willis, the long-delayed S.R. 32 project is essential to downtown’s future. He has made downtown revitalization a major theme of his first term in office, which began in January 2024. During his 2023 campaign, he said the message he heard from residents was that there was no place to shop, eat or gather as a community.

“We’re not going to have a better downtown until we do this project,” he said. “The city’s been talking about this project for [several] years now.”

Downtown development started slowly, but the pace is about to quicken.

In 2021, the city opened the $39 million Grand Junction Plaza, a public park downtown where the city hosts events, such as the Westfield Farmers Market, the Shamrock Drop (a St. Patrick’s Day festival) and Movies in the Plaza.

Union Square at Grand Junction, developed by Carmel-based Old Town Cos., is expected to open this year on the city block south of S.R. 32 between Union and Mill streets. It will have 196 apartments, a 300-car parking garage, 17,000 square feet of retail space, and a 40,000-square-foot office and retail building. Sun King Brewing Co. will open an 8,700-square-foot taproom and food hall at Union Square.

Last week, members of the Westfield City Council unanimously approved the $123 million Park and Poplar project, which will also be developed by Old Town. Park and Poplar will be built on 9 acres along the Midland Trace Trail, south of Park Street and between Mill Street and Westfield Boulevard.

Plans for Park and Poplar feature 240 apartments, 56 for-rent brownstones, a 40,000-square-foot office building with three stories, a three-story building with 29,200 square feet of retail and restaurant space, and a 523-space public parking garage.

Another development, the $100 million Jersey Street project, is planned for three acres on the south side of S.R. 32, between Mill Street and Westfield Boulevard. The Westfield City Council is expected to hear an introduction for Jersey Street on Tuesday.

Indianapolis-based developer CRG Residential LLC is also proposing a plan to complete the long-discussed Grand Millennium Center project east of U.S. 31 and south of Park Street that would feature as many as 366 apartment units, 60,000 square feet of medical office space, 12,500 square feet of retail space and 447 parking spaces. Grand Millennium is moving through the city’s approval process.

Durnell said new residents living in downtown apartments will make the area a desirable place for business owners to open an establishment.

“That’s obviously hundreds, if not thousands, of people that are going to be just a quick, two-minute walk from so many other businesses,” he said.•