Fire a blow to downtown living space

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Some people had already signed the lease on their new Cosmopolitan on the Canal apartment. The downtown Indianapolis complex, which was still under construction, is now not much more than a pile of rubble following a huge fire.

Indianapolis Downtown Inc. real estate experts believe the loss of the apartment development is a loss for the downtown area as more people search for housing in the area. The canal project was the city's largest development in the pipeline and would have helped fulfill the demand.

"The actual demand to live downtown, it will affect that. Two hundred and eighteen units is a pretty big project,” said Terry Sweeney, Vice President of Real Estate for Indianapolis Downtown Inc.

Sweeney said the apartment development was on people's radar.

There are 3,500 apartments downtown and 95 percent of them are full. Even with a high rental price of $1,200 and up, the development had a waiting list of potential tenants. Sweeney said apartment rentals haven't fallen victim to the financial crisis.

"We've seen the rental rates actually tick up over the past number of years. In one year it went up five percent. It's still more affordable in some ways to lease than it is to buy. So that market is probably going to be stronger in a time period like this,” said Sweeney.

And when choosing a place to live, residents want more options.

"A lot of people, younger people, are having to pay for their own education or working on that. They don't want to be burdened with a mortgage just yet. They don't know where they might end up.” said downtown resident Leah Orr.

“I feel like this was fulfilling some people's desires to be closer, save gas, that sort of thing,” said downtown worker Lannie Corbin.

Sweeney said the parking garage and foundation are still in tact, so that could help speed up the timeline when the developers start to rebuild.