Plenty of new development is planned for the area surrounding Carmel City Hall.
Anderson Birkla is working on a $60-million mixed-used development called The Proscenium at the former site of Party Time Rental. The City of Carmel plans to expand and remodel the nearby police headquarters. Recently, the Carmel Redevelopment Commission began looking for a developer to build for-sale housing units on three acres of land south of Carmel City Center and north of city hall.
The Old Spaghetti Factory also plans to open a new location in the former Shapiro’s Deli building between Carmel City Hall and Carmel City Center.
The CRC is asking around $3.7 million for the site next to the Carmel Fire Dept. and Carmel Police Dept. It’s currently used for city parking, but Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard said there will be plenty of parking with nearby garages to accommodate city vehicles.
“It will make kind of a seamless connection with a series of streets from Civic Square into the City Center area,” Brainard said.
The development could include as many as 200 housing units. Brainard said the increased density will be a benefit. He said it will boost the city’s tax base to help keep taxes low.
Brainard said it won’t have a negative impact on traffic or parking. He said new connector roads will be built as a part of the projects, which should alleviate traffic congestion. He also said street parking will be added, including many spots near The Proscenium, which also has underground parking.
“We don’t have that big of a parking problem (at city hall),” Brainard said. “I’ve yet to see the square filled. We have parking all around the square.”
The Carmel City Council is considering changing the breakdown of tax increment financing to give Anderson Birkla all of the TIF from The Proscenium to pay for infrastructure improvements. The CRC previously sold the Party Time Rental land to Anderson Birkla for $50,000, even though the CRC purchased the property for $3 million in 2009. The city council approved $8 million in municipal bonds to pay for infrastructure improvements, which include roads and parking. When the bond was approved in December 2015, it was decided that Anderson Birkla would only get 75 percent of the TIF, with the CRC receiving 25 percent for other debt payments.
Brainard said Carmel is waiting to begin the police headquarters expansion because it’s dependent on Huntington Bank selling its building next to the police department and moving to the vacant Walgreens site next to Kroger on Range Line Road. Huntington has agreed to the deal but has been delayed moving to the Walgreens site.
