$1.3 billion plan unveiled to revamp former GM stamping plant site

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Plans are underway to revamp part of downtown Indianapolis, as a new $1.3 billion plan was unveiled Friday to redevelop the former General Motors Stamping plant.

Ambrose Property Group wants to turn the old GM site into the city’s newest district, which it’s calling “Waterside.”

A mixed-use development would replace the infrastructure eyesore that’s left of the plant, which sits on 103 acres on the edge of the White River, directly west of the central business district.

It was the site of the GM manufacturing operation until June 2011.

Ambrose anticipates the new development will include 1,350 residential units, 620 hotel rooms, 2.75 million square feet of office space and 100,000 square feet of retail.

Officials with Ambrose said the main reason they chose the site is because they wanted to break down the physical barrier of the White River to expand Indy’s downtown district.

“Historically, the city has had a barrier of the river,” said Andrew Greenwood, executive vice president of development. “The idea here is we are expanding the community, the downtown, to west of the river and taking what once was a thriving manufacturing center that has deteriorated from a heyday of 6,000 jobs to almost 600 before it shuttered, to create a whole new city, a new thriving urban district.” 

The project also includes a major infrastructure change.

Ambrose plans to reconfigure White River Parkway so that it will turn into a pedestrian promenade and will no longer be a vehicular roadway. The plan will change the road south of West Washington Street so the roadway goes into Waterside before heading south to Oliver Avenue. The road is currently adjacent to the White River, and the move would create an opportunity for the waterfront to become a promenade and recreational area.

Infrastructure work is expected to begin in 2019.