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Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc. has awarded a $1 million grant to Friends of Indy Animals in support of a new Indianapolis Animal Care Services facility on the city’s near east side.
The new facility is slated to be built on a 22-acre site that formerly housed an RCA/Thomson Consumer Electronics plant.
The site is located at 710 Sherman Drive and the project is part of the city’s redevelopment of Sherman Park. The new facility will replace the existing IACS shelter at 2600 S. Harding Street, which Friends of Indy Animals says can only hold about 160 animals.
One of the major improvements with the new center will be an on-site medical facility, which the current shelter does not have.
Friends of Indy Animals is a not-for-profit that provides funding to Indianapolis Animal Care Services. The organization said it is working with the city to engage philanthropic partners for the project.
The city has already committed an $18 million bond to fund the project. The Nina Mason Pulliam Trust also committed $3 million a year ago.
“A new animal welfare center will be the foundation of our efforts to achieve and maintain this important work,” Friends Board Chair Jason Larrison said in a news release. “This transformational investment from Lilly Endowment brings us much closer to the reality of the new shelter.”
Kurt Christian, chief communications officer for the city’s Department of Business & Neighborhood Services, says the Sherman Park site is undergoing a large remediation effort that is estimated to cost about $10 million. He said the city is evaluating what options are available for the project to proceed.
“The city’s goal is to break ground before the end of the year, but timelines and total cost will continue to evolve as the city finalizes it’s plan,” Christian said in an email to Inside INdiana Business.
The overall cost for the project remains unknown as designs have been put on hold while the site issues are being addressed. However, Christian said a funding gap does exist based on early estimates.
“[That gap] will be filled through efforts by Friends of Indy foundation and additional budget appropriations by the Department of Business and Neighborhood Services,” he said.
The city said Friends of Indy Animals will invite the community to support the project at a later date.
When complete, Friends of Indy Animals estimates the new center will be better equipped to serve the nearly 10,000 animals housed at the shelter annually.
The IBJ’s Taylor Wooten contributed to this report.
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Nice to know the new center will be able to house more animals. Any idea, roughly, on how many animals that is? Hopefully, it is a significant increase.
And where has IndyHumane been????
1. This is not the use envisioned for the site by a neighborhood-based and City/EPA funded site planning effort. I can’t imagine that the neighbors are really in favor of this use.
2. The buildings on the site were demolished more than 10 years ago, the City has owned it for 6 years or so, and they’re just now figuring out the cost of remediation? Literally hundreds of ex-RCA employees know (or knew) the chemicals used there and where; characterizing the site should have been easy.
The neighborhood doesn’t have to be in favor of it. Regardless, every official document I’ve seen in regard to the site specifically notes potential government use on specific portions.
I’m doubting that the city had $10M sitting around for the cleanup. Besides, shouldn’t those that contaminated the property to begin with be responsible? The answer is, of course. But when the private sector fails it is left to government to pick up the pieces.