Carmel could sell former emergency call center for redevelopment

Carmel is considering selling the former Carmel-Clay Communications Center to pave the way for more redevelopment in the Arts & Design District.

The dispatch facility at 31 1st Ave. NW, would be demolished and possibly replaced with condos, according to Mayor Jim Brainard.

“We’re just in the very beginning phases of that,” Brainard said. “One [developer] in particular is interested in putting a condo development on that site.”

Brainard shared plans for the property with the Carmel City Council during budget hearings last week. The mayor also has been discussing a possible redevelopment of the property at the nearby corner of Main Street and Rangeline Road, where a PNC Bank branch currently operates.

A project involving condos would likely be well-received by city officials, who are hoping to add more for-sale options downtown.

The communicatios facility used to function as the emergency call (911) center for all police, fire and ambulance calls for Carmel and Clay Township. In 2012, emergency call operations were consolidated into a countywide facility in Noblesville, making the Carmel center obsolete.

County officials had been considering using the Carmel location as a backup for the countywide system, but Brainard told the council that the county has opted to use space in a Clay Township office instead.

Brainard said about three or four of the city’s communications department staff members still work in the building, but they would relocate to the expanded police headquarters near Rangeline Road between Gradle Drive and Veterans Way.

The city is in the process of securing a property adjacent to the existing police station, where a Huntington National Bank branch is located. The bank plans to construct a new building on the corner of Rangeline Road and Executive Drive where Walgreens formerly operated.

Acquiring the Huntington National Bank property would allow the city to expand its existing police headquarters and move City Court from City Hall to the new facility. The cost of the project has not been released yet, and it still requires approval from the City Council.