For decades, a 32-block area, consisting of over 160-acres in the near north-side of downtown Indianapolis had deteriorated into a blighted neighborhood with fewer than 100 stalwart homeowners remaining among the unoccupied houses and trash-strewn vacant lots. In July 2001, with the initial help of a $4 million Home Ownership Zone grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the City of Indianapolis launched an ambitious public/private initiative to revitalize and reconstruct this formerly attractive and desirable neighborhood.

The collaboration among the City of Indianapolis and its partners, the not-for-profit King Park Area Development Corporation (KPADC), the not-for-profit Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indianapolis (HLFI), and Mansur Real Estate Service, with the cooperation of local public utility companies, , private consultants and contractors has resulted in the revitalization of this neighborhood. Today, Fall Creek Place is a vibrant, growing, mixed-income community. A cost-effective infrastructure improvement plan helped to lay the groundwork for its success.

Property Acquisition and Home Design
In the initial steps and throughout each of the progressive phases of development, the City of Indianapolis worked diligently to acquire each of the possible vacant lots and unoccupied homes.

As a part of this effort it was possible to salvage approximately 58 homes for reconstruction and re-sale in Phases 1-3. Through its Fund for Landmark Indianapolis Properties, HLFI stabilized and hasstabsrehabilitated the exteriors of a number of authentic historic properties dating from the Victorian and Arts and Crafts periods, investing reselling these to new owners at prices ranging from $30,000 to $122,000. Homeowners are were responsible for completing the interior renovations at costs ranging from approximately $60,000 to $150,000.

Where structures had deteriorated beyond a cost-effective salvageable condition, these were demolished and removed. Cleared and cleaned lots created the land base for Fall Creek Place.

The City and Mansur selected home builders to provide flexible building plans that were matched to the existing lot sizes and architectural design standards established for character, style and materials. Numerous housing designs and variations were developed to meet the financial capabilities of individuals and families of a range of socio-economic levels, with prices ranging from under $100,000 to almost $400,000. Homes were designed with frontage on the public streets and access to the garages from the existing alleys at the rear of the lots.

Homeowner covenants also were developed. Indianapolis Metropolitan Development Committee approved tax-increment financing (TIF) for this new community, and selected local banks offered attractive financing packages and incentives for first-time homeowners to stimulate purchases by low- to moderate-income homebuyers. Advertising effectively was used to increase awareness and interest in the Fall Creek Place neighborhood.

Cost-Effective Infrastructure Improvements
The City understood that as a part of this revitalization they would need an engineering evaluation to determine existing infrastructure conditions and identify cost-effective ­­infrastructure improvements needed that would avoid total replacement. Woolpert, Inc. provided the detailed topographic and utility surveys and engineering evaluation of the infrastructure.

Over the course of a century, some of the area’s streets evolved into major thoroughfares with high-volume traffic during rush hour and major downtown events. The civil engineering design included the geometric re-alignment of street intersections to add bump-outs to reduce crossing widths for pedestrians, improve the curb radii for turning movements at intersections, provide protection for on-street parking, and provide improved traffic flow while providing traffic calming to improve both vehicular and pedestrian safety.

Almost all of the existing infrastructure and utilities in this north-side area were a century old. As a part of engineering, each element of the infrastructure was evaluated for salvaging and reuse to minimize costs. Street pavements and alleys were selectively removed and replaced, or milled and resurfaced. Concrete and other materials were crushed on-site and recycled. Stone curbs were selectively salvaged and reused. Portions of storm sewers inlets and manholes were reconstructed to improve without adding extensive new inlets. Street pavements and alleys were selectively removed and replaced, or milled and resurfaced. Concrete and other materials were removed, crushed on-site, and recycled. that was removed stone curbs were selectively salvaged and reused. Portions of storm sewers, inlets, and manholes were reconstructed. Broken sidewalks and curbs were replaced. New ADA accessible ramps were placed at all crossing locations.

Each of the new homes needed new utility service line laterals for sewer, domestic water, gas, electric, telephone and cable. Where possible and cost-effective, with cooperation of the utility companies, existing overhead utility lines were placed underground and new below-grade services were provided to the new homes. New utility services were placed during infrastructure reconstruction so that newly surfaced streets and alleys would not need to be cut and patched as the new homes were constructed.

Kevin K. Parsons & Associates, Inc., as a sub-consultant to Woolpert, provided the landscape architectural design services for the tree-lined streets, extension of the city’s Fall Creek Trail, creation of landscaped open space areas with four new neighborhood parks, neighborhood gateway columns, and new street lighting.

Extensive phasing plans for the sequencing of construction operations and maintenance of traffic plans were prepared to minimize impact on daily commuter traffic and to maintain access to existing homes and new home sites. The sequencing plan was detailed in construction documents to allow infrastructure reconstruction and home construction to proceed simultaneously for the nearly $12 million of construction improvements financed by municipal bonds.

Jennifer C. Green, assistant administrator for the City of Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development, steered the project to a timely and successful completion within budget. Mansur managed and coordinated the selected private builders during the construction of the nearly 420 new homes and townhomes. Of the first 300 homes, 51 percent of which were available for ownership by households at or below 80 percent of the area median income. On completion of Phase 4, now near completion of construction, an additional 120 new single-family homes, and townhomes and 10 rehabilitated homes and condominiums will be available.

It is estimated that total home sales will exceed $60 million in the original three phases, and total new household income created by the new homeowners will approach $20 million annually. The neighborhood will also add $1.2 million to the local tax base. Moreover, it is notable that Fall Creek Place has had no foreclosures, remarkable given the neighborhood’s high concentration of first-time homebuyers, including low- and moderate-income households.

Indeed, HUD considers Fall Creek Place a sound model for similar public-private revitalization efforts elsewhere across the nation. Moreover, the Fall Creek Place project has won numerous awards, including the National League of Cities – 2006 Silver Award for Municipal Excellence; the Urban Land Institute’s 2004 Award for Excellence; Professional Builder and National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) 2004 Best in American Living Award, Best Smart Growth Community; American Planning Association’s Outstanding Example of Smart Growth in Urban Revitalization (2003 Current Topic Award); and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2003 Homeownership Zone Award: Outstanding Use of Public Funds to Leverage Private Investment.

On its web site, www.fallcreekplace.com, Fall Creek Homeowner’s Association succinctly captures the revitalization that has resulted from the efforts of a broad partnership of public and private organizations to bring a blighted inner-city neighborhood back from the brink: “Fall Creek Place is a community of hard-working families and well-acquainted neighbors, sharing in the dream of homeownership, and enjoying the active and diverse surroundings that come with downtown living.”  SLDT