A group of first-graders in kid-sized hardhats wielded mini shovels to help break ground at the site of the planned Fishers Community Center during a March 12 ceremony to kick off the construction phase of the $60 million, 105,000-square-foot project.
The students walked to the site from Hoosier Road Elementary School, across the road from where the center will be built on Hoosier Road near 121st Street. They and a group of grownups heard from a few speakers, including Fishers City Councilor Todd Zimmerman, Jeff Hagerman of the Hagerman Group, Mayor Scott Fadness and Art Johnson, who sold the 25-acre site to the city for that development.
The land has been farmed by the Johnson family for many years, and Johnson said they still farm other land that they own in the area.
“The Johnson family is more than proud to yield this acreage to the City of Fishers,” he said. “And also, I think that the mayor of Fishers gets a lot of credit because if he can deal with a Johnson, he can deal with anything.”
Fadness said the site will be called Johnson Farms in honor of the family and their long history in Fishers.
Fishers Director of Recreation and Wellness Jake Reardon-McSoley invited the students and others at the groundbreaking to return in about 18 months for a grand-opening celebration and announced that, besides the dog park, pools, indoor playground, walking track and other previously announced amenities, the center will have a cafe operated by Sahm’s, which owns several eateries in the greater Indianapolis area.
For more about the Fishers Community Center at Johnson Farm, visit thisisfishers.com/fishers-community-center-at-johnson-farm.
