Fishers prepares for development project

FISHERS, Ind. (WISH) - The Fishers Town Council is doing its part to prepare for a big, downtown development project. Planners expect to see a groundbreaking, this summer, on what will be the new Fishers Station complex. 

But, the federal government could get in the way. 

Fishers Station will be a collection of apartments, retail space and parking. Joe Weingardt, the Town Council President, told 24-Hour News 8 “there’s lots of opportunity there to really start to build a place, build a sense of downtown.”  The development will fill empty land in front of the Town Hall on 116th Street, not far from I-69. 

The road west of that lot could be the roadblock for the construction timetable.

“We don’t like to dwell on it,” said Tom Dickey, the Director of Community Development, “but it is a reality.”

Fishers doesn’t own the road. The Post Office owns it. Dickey told 24-Hour News 8 the local Postmaster didn’t know the road was his until the development discussions began. But, the local Postmaster doesn’t have authority over road.  That’s why the town’s lawyer has been working with the Postal Service in Washington, DC. 

“If we’re not out there in July,” Dickey said, “it’s most likely because there’s been a delay in that happening.”  Dickey said the transfer should be done in time to allow groundbreaking on schedule.  But, he said the town needs to recognize the potential for a delay.

On Monday, the Fishers Town Council approved an economic development deal to spur the project.  That is recognition that “we want to invest public money in this project,” as Dickey put it.

The Fishers Station project will cost close to $35 million.  This week, Dickey told council members it “would not happen without public investment.”  A bond issue will cover $10.75 million, about a third of the cost. 

The town’s County Option Income Tax will back the bonds. But, Dickey told the council Fishers has enough money in Tax Increment Financing that it should not need to draw from its COIT fund.

The development will create 240 one-or-two-bedroom apartments. It will also offer 16,000 square feet of retail space. 

Dickey told the council, on Monday, designers don’t want too much space devoted to retail. They want to be able to lease what they open and not risk depressing the market elsewhere in Fishers. 

Fishers Station will also create 430 spaces in the town’s first parking garage.

The downtown project is part of an ambitious development strategy.  Planners are watching other property and imagining how Fishers might grow for years into the future.  Town Manager Scott Fadness told 24-Hour News 8 “we don’t want anyone to think that this building out front of Town Hall” is the end of it

Fadness, Dickey and others in Town Hall are eager to see their plans pay off in new investments, new jobs, and new opportunities for the people who live in Fishers now or who will be drawn here, later.