For years, a dilapidated structure has sat on a triangular patch of land on Indianapolis’ northeast side. The property bound by Binford Blvd, Allisonville Road and 45th street named Keystone Towers is a structure which for all intents and purposes, has turned into an eyesore. It is abandoned, behind on property taxes, vermin infested and rumored to be deteriorating on the interior portions. It is covered in graphitti, and also rumored to be home to many squatters.
Recently, local media announced that the city had taken over posession of the property and the most popular rumor is that this place will be demolished, and the land offered up via RFQ by the city for redevelopment. Local discussion forums have already erupted arguing the merits of tearing the place down and starting fresh, to rehabilitating the standing structure
I have included a site plan of the area with the two towers lined in red and the property itself marked in green. Binford Blvd is basically a limited access highway to the east and not worthy of any sort of driveway leaving Allisonville Road as the primary entrance route and 45th street as a secondary entrance.
So…. if you had a say, what would YOU do with this site?
I’d tear it down and start fresh. Rehabing that thing would be a nightmare.
Economically and environmentally best practices call for this structure to be demolished. It was never built to fit into the site to begin with. There has been so much damage done to that building including who knows what type of environmental hazards now lay left behind from years of neglect and squatters. The building serves no historical purpose other then how not to build residential towers. Tear it down!
Early in 1985-86, I lived in one of the duplex penthouses on the 14th and 15th floor facing downtown. The units were well-decorated with expansive views, but always had heating problems due to “thru-the-wall” combination hvac units. Even at that time, the retail space on the floor above the parking garage, and the office tower were empty, leaking and in bad shape. There were, I believe, a dozen penthouse units plus lobby on the 14th floor reachable only by a keyed elevator. Unlike the rest of the building, the tenants in these units were a small community unto itself. We were all on a friendly first-name basis.
I was shocked to see how far this building had fallen upon my return to Indianaapolis in the late ’90’s. I fear it is too far gone, and too poorly constructed to be renovated. It should go.
I am very intersted in the history of this place. I would love to see pictures of it when it was in its prime but am unable to find any at all. was wondering if anyone would know where to look or had some pictures around.
also interested in some photos of this building from it’s prime. Did you have any luck finding any?
I agree with the notion of tearing it down. There is a lot of cleanup waiting to happen to this place, and the footprint is already a pain to deal with. At the least, the small footprint would ensure some sort of vertical development. The space for parking will probably be small once something is proposed for the land.
Bring on the bulldozers. Affordable residential towers will compliment the Meijer and other retail spaces. Would be a perfect plot to do a mixed use development with medium density. Towers should be tall enough to take advantage of skyline views. And Allisonville and ?? would allow for enough access without having to screw up existing Fall Creek ROW. It’s really how the lots behind the ‘prime front’ piece of property are developed that would make this a successful project. Perfect location being that it’s so close to downtown…yet so far away.
I agree tear it down, but let’s do it in the best way possible. We get hollywood to blow it up for some Jerry Bruckheimer movie, then we just start new.
I finally got to walking around the property today and explored some floors. Waiting to go back (with another person) for safety reasons. My initial impression though… I am not an engineer, but the structure doesn’t seem to be safe enough to try and keep the current structure only to renovate. It probably needs to be completed demolished and cleared.
I lived there from 1979-1984 and loved every minute. There were members of the Pacers who lived there as well as many doctors,lawyers and TV personalities. We had many parties on the third floor deck which had a built in bar,and patio that open out to the olympic size swiming pool.This place had it’s own weight and seam rooms all with in minutes away from your apartment. Never had any criminal activity of any kind the entire time I lived there. Security was 24/7.