Feature
What's next for Keystone Towers site when rubble is gone?8.29.11
INDIANAPOLIS STAR
The Keystone Towers crumbled to the ground in 14 seconds Sunday, but even before the dust settled, nearby residents and businesses had one thing in mind: What's next?
The once-sparkling piece of real estate halfway between Downtown and the city's northern suburbs is open for development. And area residents say a facelift is sorely needed.
But options are limited.
The federal government is requiring the city to build mixed-income housing at the Northeastside site because the city used $2 million in federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program funds to tear down the towers.
A spokesman for the Department of Metropolitan Development said money remaining after the $800,000 demolition will go toward subsidizing the residential development, which also could include some retail space.
"Hopefully, as soon as that sucker goes down, we'll be able to send out bids," John Batholomew said last week before the implosion.
The 15-story apartment building at 4475 Allisonville Road was built in 1974 and called the VIP Center when it opened. With an attached eight-story mall, it was the first in the city to mix residences with businesses and leisure -- the so-called live/work/play concept fashionable today.
Mary Martha Ginger, whose father, G.V. Ginger, developed the tower, said the development was "ahead of its time."
"I don't think Indianapolis was ready for high-rise living back then. I don't know if it is now," she said.
R. Douglas Thurston doesn't quite remember it as The Ritz but said the towers had character.
"I had a friend who lived at the top," he said. "The view was great. I went to a couple of parties at his place. But as I recall, it seemed they had trouble renting places from the start."
The glamour at the VIP Center was short-lived, Ginger said. Her father sold the tower after only a year, mostly because he couldn't get financing to finish the mall and had trouble attracting retail clients.
By 1980, the tower was in disrepair, and by 1986, the Indianapolis News described it as "long neglected." The next year, new owners persuaded organizers of the Pan Am Games to relocate their offices there from Downtown.
That didn't help the buildings' long-term prospects, however. They have been largely vacant since 2003 and boarded up by the city since 2008.
Most observers say the destruction was overdue.
"I am not sorry to see it go," said Indianapolis City-County Council member Christine Scales, whose district abuts the towers. "I've been dealing with getting something done with this building for a long time."
Now the question is whether what replaces Keystone Towers can revitalize the desolate area -- a kind of Bermuda Triangle for businesses -- bordered on three sides by Binford Boulevard, Allisonville Road and 46th Street.
"We need a fresh start there," said Mark Webster, who owns Real Taste Catering, 3960 Meadows Drive. "It's a central location, and there's just nothing around there now."
Businesses had been vanishing in the shadow of the hulking tower for years -- a Speedway gas station, an Osco drugstore, a Safeway grocery -- leaving just a smattering of local establishments to forge on.
"I can't even get utilities to come out here," said Daniel Kittell, a partner in the accounting firm of Cadick Williams McAllister Ford, 2905 E. 46th St. "They just laughed. They said there's no infrastructure and they aren't going to run cables for one client."
The area is so barren that Kittell's employees go all the way to Glendale Town Center, at Keystone Avenue and 62nd Street, or to 71st Street and Binford, to eat lunch.
For that reason, most occupants say an injection of retail, not just housing, is needed where the towers once stood.
"What about putting a Walmart there?" said Marshelle Sims, who has worked at the accounting firm for 19 years. "They need something to grab the people's attention."
Several people said a grocery was desperately needed.
"You can go for miles and miles on 38th Street without hitting one," Webster said.
But city officials said that is unlikely; the federal government is requiring it to build housing.
One incoming bid will come from the Whitsett Group of Indianapolis, for three-story apartment buildings. The first phase of the plan is to build two buildings along Binford with 80 apartments, a community room, an exercise room and a business center for the tenants, said Joe Whitsett, Whitsett Group co-founder. The second phase would be the same.
Whitsett eventually would like to add a commercial component, possibly a coffee shop or a restaurant.
"There is just no market for commercial properties right now," he said. "I don't think anyone would last, and no one would even venture taking a chance."
Scales agreed.
"There's a need for decent, affordable housing," she said. "Whitsett's plan looks good -- places with balconies and nice landscaping."
But Alma Trawick, president of the Keystone-Millersville Neighborhood Association, said there is enough housing available already.
"We have vacant homes and abandoned homes all over the city," said Trawick, who favors turning the property into housing for returning military veterans.
Mark Dyer, owner of Advanced Register and Office Products on 46th Street, said he fears a housing complex might follow the same pattern as the towers.
"We see what happens with public housing," he said. "It always seems to start off good, but in five months, it isn't anymore."
Dyer, in fact, said he favored salvaging the towers, in much the way he repairs old cash registers and keeps them humming.
"It's a shame to see a building that was so modern when it was built get blown up," he said. "That seems like a lot of waste for a short period of time. It's what they did to Market Square Arena. I'm glad they are doing something. This whole area has diminished. I hope it can lead to a comeback."
At Food Plus, 4449 Allisonville Road, where a sign in the window boasts of selling a $1 million instant lottery ticket, clerk Naveed Uppel said he welcomes the housing.
"I favor anything that puts some people in some houses or apartments so we can get some business."
Call Star reporter John Tuohy at (317) 444-6303.
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