Walmart, bank, barbecue on tap for high-profile Fishers corner

Work is finally under way at Fishers Marketplace, a long-awaited development at the northeast corner of 131st Street and State Road 37.

A former golf course on the site closed more than five years ago to make way for a planned water park, but that project dried up and the property fell into foreclosure. Then the recession hit.

Crews now are preparing the site for a 104-acre mixed-use development anchored by a Walmart Neighborhood Market, which is about a quarter of the size of the retailer’s typical superstore. Plans filed with the town of Fishers show a 43,418-square-foot store with a drive-through pharmacy.

Last week, Warsaw-based Lake City Bank said it will invest more than $2.8 million to build its second central Indiana branch at Fishers Marketplace. The 3,700-square-foot office is expected to open in November.

Master developer Thompson Thrift said City Barbeque has signed a lease for one of the multitenant retail buildings in the so-called Market District. Negotiations are under way with another restaurant and a home-furnishings store.

As IBJ reported in September, a 294-unit luxury apartment complex will add a residential component to the project. Construction on the $25 million Addison Landing at Fishers Marketplace is expected to begin this summer.

The northern portion of the site, dubbed the Regional District, “is intended for a larger-scale project with regional appeal,” Thompson Thrift executive Ashlee Boyd said in a prepared statement.

Assuming the water park plans have circled the drain for good, what else would you like to see on the site?