By Sam Elliott

Indiana Ice Arenas, LLC introduced a proposal for first reading at the June 20 city council meeting for a new building including 20 residential units, a locker room and coaches’ offices directly to the west of the Fuel Tank at Fishers.

The building would represent an additional investment of approximately $4 million. The Indiana Ice Arenas, LLC group guaranteed an investment of at least $1.65 million for improving and restoring the facility upon purchasing it last year.

“To date, I’m pleased to represent that they have spent more than $5.1 million upgrading the facility … and they have an additional $600,000 construction going on right now,” attorney Steve Hardin said. “They’re excited to start the process of upgrading the PUD ordinance to allow them to add on and invest an additional $4 million to construct an attached facility for the Fuel players and coaches. It would have 20 residential units along with a 3,000-square-foot locker room and office space and then those units could be available in the offseason to the public if they’re not being used by the team.”

The project is anticipated to go before the planning commission July 13, where a public hearing will be conducted, before coming back before city council in August.

“I’m just really impressed with how quickly this has come together,” City Councilor Todd Zimmerman said. “When they were talking initially to us about the housing residential part, that was like, ‘Well, this is one of those steps that could take a few years,’ but it’s pretty exciting to see it come together this fast.”