INDIANAPOLIS — There’s talk about turning the old Drake apartment building into something new for future generations. The building is just north of the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis and its fate has long been a source of controversy.
The building has been around for nearly 100 years. It was built in 1928 and has been vacant for years.
The Children’s Museum owns the building and wanted to demolish it years ago. But the Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission stopped that from happening.
The museum and the city of Indianapolis asked for ideas for its future. A handful of ideas were submitted.
The city said they have a wide variety of ideas like a new hotel, commercial office space, residential condos and maybe even a new exhibit for the museum.
Director of Metropolitan Development Emily Mack says one thing that comes to mind is a transit-oriented development, as the building sits right at the 30th and Meridian streets Red Line stop.
“When we think of affordable housing, workforce housing, I think that that again could be a really great opportunity for people to potentially live there and have access to jobs, education, healthcare and that could be a potential opportunity,” Mack said.
The building has 27 units and is going to need some work. The city says the structure is in great shape but updates could be hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Right now, the city is going through submissions to see what may be good for the market.
