Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce

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Redevelopment and Revitalization
 

The City of Indianapolis should develop an expedient process to encourage redevelopment and revitalization initiatives.

The long-term success of Indianapolis and the central Indiana region depends on a strong, vital urban core. To preserve and expand the property tax base and create employment opportunities, business must be attracted to the central city, not as a ‘charitable’ endeavor, but because it is a strategic and economically viable market. 

The Chamber believes the city should re-examine its methods of permits, fees, incentives, and zoning in order to streamline the process for developers and make it "expedient" so that bureaucratic process doesn’t discourage developers. The city should do everything possible to make it easy for those who want to develop in Indianapolis.

When thinking about core-city development, a thriving downtown business and retail district comes to mind. However, neighborhoods immediately outside the downtown area face meager development opportunities. These areas are typically overlooked by national retailers as potential locations for new facilities. For these areas not to be overlooked, communities must identify and market their unique and viable assets to attract economic growth opportunities.

The Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce has focused efforts in two areas; redevelopment and revitalization, which could bring back the vitality of the core city.

Redevelopment

Indianapolis, like many other metropolitan areas, faces a trend where development is attracted to suburbs and surrounding communities. Although the downtown area is thriving, existing businesses a mile or two outside of downtown offer such limited services that residents are forced to drive or commute long distances to obtain basic needed services, such as groceries, pharmacy, and retail needs.

Despite the desire to stimulate development, no local entity exists that can look strategically into city improvements and small-scale development projects. With emphasis on the revitalization of downtown Indianapolis and development on a regional scale, the core-city is still seen as a questionable risk for business growth. The Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce realizes the need to stimulate business in the urban core. The Chamber seeks to help remove obstacles to core-city development, such as developing brownfield sites and loosening regulations to develop abandoned or deteriorating buildings, in order to increase both jobs and economic opportunities in Center Township.

Revitalization

Revitalization is key to sustaining the vitality of Center Township. The Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce encourages measures to stimulate economic growth, such as expanding job opportunities, high-tech investments, and encouraging communities and their residents to take ownership of their neighborhoods.

The Chamber has undertaken activity to encourage changes in public policy that will remove barriers to businesses locating in the central city. Research will develop new and innovative ways to market the strengths of Indianapolis’s core commercial corridors, while at the same time connecting developers to neighborhood organizations and local merchants.

Urban Development

The Greater Indianapolis Chamber is taking a lead in neighborhood economic development by collaborating with the Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC) and the Indianapolis Coalition for Neighborhood Development (ICND) through a grant from the Indianapolis Foundation for the FOCUS initiative (Fostering Commercial Urban Strategies, formerly IUEDI). This collaboration is an opportunity for a long-lasting relationship that connects neighborhoods and their community development corporations (CDCs) with businesses to rebuild and revitalize the urban commercial market. FOCUS will create a new model to foster commercial revitalization and small business development in targeted core-city neighborhoods. The collaboration is an attempt to make a systemic change in the planning, advocacy, and delivery of commercial development projects in Indianapolis urban neighborhoods. It is designed to give neighborhoods a level of control in the economic development initiatives that will affect them most. This includes not only neighborhood associations and merchant associations, but neighborhood-based entrepreneurs and existing enterprises as well.

Summary

Like many cities across the country, Indianapolis has a challenge to identify markets in the inner city that may have gone unnoticed by retail companies and other businesses looking to open new facilities. In an attempt to identify and measure viable markets in the core-city, the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce joined in the collaborative "Indianapolis Urban Economic Development Initiative" project, which will attempt to find market-based incentives to attract businesses to the urban area. These incentives will identify assets and strengths which are unique to the local communities.

In Indianapolis, as in other major cities, the stability of the core is essential to the survival of the region. The region will struggle if the core-city suffers from blight, forcing residents to travel long distances for needed services and job opportunities. In order for Indianapolis to remain a first-class city and attract business, it must recognize the core-city (Center Township) as a first class neighborhood and viable business district.

What the Greater Indianapolis Chamber is doing:

  • We are promoting neighborhood development and involvement to our membership.
  • We are working to alleviate public policy barriers to neighborhood development.
  • We are promoting tax incentive programs that focus on urban revitalization to our members.

What YOU can do:

  • Get involved in your local community development corporation; sit on the board, help with a new project. Have your business donate time, materials, or effort to help within your community. Support community/non-profit assistance programs. For more information, click here.
  • Take advantage of the various business assistance programs provided by the state.  For more information, click here.

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Want more?  Learn about other issues dealing with Economic Development.

 

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