McNamara Florist buys building, returning to Indianapolis

The metropolitan area’s largest florist has purchased a vacant building east of downtown and will move its headquarters back to Indianapolis next year.

McNamara Florist bought the 176,000-square-foot warehouse at 1853 Ludlow Ave., between Massachusetts Avenue and Interstate 70, as part of a $2 million investment in returning to the city, company CEO Toomie Farris said. The $2 million includes the purchase price.

The company now leases 58,000 square feet in Fishers and will vacate the space once it moves by mid-2016.

McNamara and its 70 corporate employees, however, will only occupy about 70,000 square feet at the new location. Roughly 35,000 square feet will be demolished to make way for additional parking, and the remaining 70,000 square feet will be available for sublease to a tenant, Farris said.

The new location offers a more central point of distribution with close interstate access, which should benefit delivery service and support to local event venues, Farris said.

“We’re anticipating to better service the downtown convention traffic,” he said.

McNamara was founded in Indianapolis in 1954 and purchased by Carmel-based Engledow Group in 1989 before Marsh Supermarkets Inc. scooped it up in 2001.  

Marsh parent Sun Capital Partners sold its McNamara division to a partnership led by that company's president, Farris, in 2007.

The company has 27 designers and nine stores, making it the largest florist in the metro area, according to IBJ statistics.

McNamara received financing from First Internet Bank, in addition to an SBA 504 loan backed by Premier Capital Corp., for acquisition and construction costs. It also received a Local Initiatives Support Corp. grant for façade improvements.

McNamara bought the building, which has been vacant for several years and was once part of the old Master-Fit Corp. industrial complex, from Atco Products.

DTZ brokers Bill French and Grant Lindley represented McNamara in the transaction.