Project updates: Fishers mixed use, Carmel hotel and Zionsville’s new HQ

Elected officials north of 96th Street advanced a bevy of public-private projects Monday during what I like to call their monthly meetingpalooza. Here’s a rundown on where things stand:

— Fishers Town Council (and a trio of appointed boards) OK’d a project agreement with a developer planning a retail-and-office building and attached parking garage adjacent to Fishers Office Suites downtown.

As IBJ reported Jan. 28, the town will hand over a prime parcel at 116th Street and Lantern Road and contribute $6 million for the 330-space garage, which would be available for public parking after business hours and on weekends and holidays.

Fishers Urban Development LLC—a partnership of local office-suites operator Yeager Properties, Baldwin Cos. principal Scott Baldwin and land-use attorney Steve Hardin—expects to replace a shuttered KFC restaurant with a three-story mixed-use building.

Click to enlarge this rendering of the planned three-story office building at 116th Street and Lantern Road in Fishers. (Rendering courtesy of Fishers Urban Development LLC)

It’s in the final stages of negotiations with Community Health Network, which is looking to lease about 22,000 square feet on the second and third floors for medical offices. Outdoor terrace patios are planned for both upper stories.

About 7,000 square feet of the ground-floor retail space is being eyed as a location for a “white tablecloth” restaurant, Hardin told a joint meeting of the council, Fishers Redevelopment Commission, Fishers Economic Development Commission and Town Hall Building Corp.

The town-owned parking garage—and its 9,000 square feet facing Lantern Road—
would replace Yeager’s existing 84-spot surface lot in between the two buildings. Fishers Office Suites’ distinctive yellow edifice is slated to be overhauled to match the more muted look of the new structure.

Hardin said the group is excited to be part of Fishers’ ambitious downtown redevelopment, which kicked off with the $42 million Depot at Nickel Plate apartment-and-retail project under construction along 116th Street a few blocks west.

By sharing their joint vision for downtown, town leaders are sending a message that they’re serious about redevelopment, he said.

“It’s much easier to do business in a community where the leadership is clear,” Hardin said.

— Carmel City Council approved a zoning change that will allow St. Louis-based Drury Hotels to build a 10-story hotel and freestanding restaurant at the northeast corner of Meridian and 96th Streets, just south of Interstate 465.

As IBJ reported Jan. 31, Drury Development Corp. plans to break ground on the 304-room Drury Plaza Hotel this spring. It’s expected to open in late 2015.

No one spoke at a public hearing on the proposed planned-unit development ordinance, which governs design standards on the site. Council members unanimously OK’d the project with no discussion.

— Zionsville Town Council gave a preliminary OK to local incentives for Indianapolis-based Hat World Inc., which plans to build a 150,000-square-foot headquarters in the town’s new Creekside Corporate Park. Nothing is final until after a public hearing and confirmatory vote next month.

Hat World, which does business as Lids Sports Group, is set to receive a pair of 10-year abatements that would reduce its real estate and personal property tax bills by 50 percent. The council also agreed to waive certain development fees.

As IBJ reported Jan. 10, Hat World’s headquarters move is part of a planned $21.8 million expansion. By 2025, the company it expects to add more than 750 jobs between its Zionsville corporate base and a growing Park 100 distribution center.

— The Noblesville Common Council, meanwhile, signed off last week on a two-year tax phase-in for LeMaster Steel Erectors, which plans to invest nearly $1.2 million to accommodate its growing Hamilton County operation.

The Elkhart-based company is out of space at its existing building at 15249 Stony Creek Way, and it’s seeking a property tax break on a 10,625-square-foot facility it wants to erect  in the city’s Pleasant Street Commercial Park.

LeMaster President Jim Bigler told IBJ the company is ready to start building and hopes to move in July or August. Its staff of 48 has nearly doubled since the end of 2010, and he expects to continue growing.