1201 Indiana Avenue

The project at 1201 Indiana Avenue is quite large in scale.  Designed to house students in a mixed-use structure, it features 253 units in a location that previously occupied Lincoln Tech.  Here’s the best rendering we can find:

One quibble is that the parking area on the north side of the project is quite large, and they demolished out a number of single-family houses for the lot. So, it’s not quite the prototype of good urbanism. However, it is built right up to the sidewalk along 3 of its faces, and I like the scale and massing. I missed out on taking photos of the east-facing structure due to the frigid weather, and my own doubts that it would be worth looking at. But I was wrong, because as I drove down Indiana, I made sure to look back at that side, and sure enough, it’s built along that street as well. Here’s how it looked as of December 9th:

Comments 13

  • I generally appreciate that construction has matched the renderings. As always, it is a shame that there is not enough transit service to this area to make it a usable place. Perhaps that will change in the future. I know the IUPUI circulator runs up and down through there during school periods, which could be VERY useful.

    The other, although minor, downside, is that all those utility wires running down the opposite side really detract from the overall appearance. I doubt that will be changed anytime soon, but it would be nice to them removed should more development occur in the area.

    Regardless, with 253 units, and the potential for a lot more people than that calling the DT area home, this is a welcome development. Perhaps someday, the property can be densified by building more units on the parking lot. Would need better transit service of course, but one can dream. 😉

    Good post Kevin

    • Curt – 253 units is an important number, but 667 bed capacity caught my eye. That’s about 2.6 residents/unit. My general impression of downtown apartment complexes is that capacity is usually close to 1.5 residents/unit, so this is WAY higher capacity than the unit number would suggest (253 x 1.5 = 380 residents). 667 new residents — plus ~250-300 more once The Avenue is done — is going to be a huge population boost to the NW quadrant.

      • Chris, “student housing” is planned, built, and sold “by the bed”, unlike traditional apartments. That load factor is very similar to the apartment-style dorms I lived in, where apartments were either “doubles” or “quads”.
        .
        Back when I was in school, such housing was all provided by universities; today, some universities actually privatize some or all on-campus housing. (A nephew of mine attends a state university in where this has been done.) 1201 is not a hybrid type, it’s a completely private, off-campus, student-oriented development.

  • Good point about the poles. I guess I’m immune to them by now.

  • Looks in the photos like the outside of the upper couple floors is finished. What is the material? The renderings made it look like it would be mostly brick.

    • I thought it would be brick too, but after looking at the rendering closer, I notice that it’s siding instead. I’m not certain of the material, but it’s at least not too cheap-looking

      • I would guess that the lapped boards are Hardie Plank and the larger pieces are Hardie Panels. It’s a fiber-cement board. Fire resistant and durable, but not likely to win a beauty contest unless used by a skillful designer. Whatever they used, I do kind of like the vertical and horizontal patterns, which weren’t really shown on the earlier rendering.

      • Looking more closely at the renderings, I think there will be brick. It is a mix of brick and siding, in a sort of zigzag pattern, and the areas that are not covered now will be brick. The angle in the renderings just plays the brick parts way up.

  • Yikes. That is one ugly piece of developer schlock…

  • I guess it’s better than a suburban home, parking lot, strip mall, vacant brownfield or park, or the ???? development on Capital and 9th?

  • well,hurray for these maybe,long over due projects along indiana ave,north of 10th.st.as a native hoosier of indy its nice some new and different projects in this area,that is,something other then office bldgs.,and warehouses.i am with you all yhe way though about all of thouse power lines that stand out like a sore thumb.it seems like a lot of times,project developers are more in a hurry to make a buck,than to take some time before the start of a project,and do it right.and while i am at it,youre deffinitely right about our transit system,to be a city of our size,it s rediclules that you cant get there from here,or anywhere else in the city for that matter.lots of buses dont even run on the weekend,or sundays for that matter.also it would be really,really nice to see this brand new modern convience in this newly developed area,it s called,i believe a gorcery store!

  • I have been living there since August 2012, and I must say, it has been the WORST experience.

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