Stutz's success a new beginning for downtown Indy

• Cafe Patachou and Amelia's Bakery are two recent additions.

The intrigue: It's isolated in a relatively dead area of downtown, bounded by Senate and Capitol avenues and 10th and 11th streets.

• You won't stumble upon it accidentally — you have to want to go there — a rare example of a success story lacking robust walkability nearby.

Yes, but: Early tenants are giving people plenty of reasons to want to go there, even if they aren't artists with studio space in the building.

• The complex boasts a trendy coffee shop (Barista Parlor), a bar (Turner's), a taqueria (Julieta Taco Shop) and a gardening store (Grounded Plant & Floral Co.).

Flashback: The building was a Stutz Motor Co. auto manufacturing plant until the mid-1930s.

• Eli Lilly & Co. used it as a paper packaging warehouse from 1940 until 1982.
• It became a space for artists in the 1990s.

What's next: New York developer SomeraRoad is planning to build hundreds of apartments adjacent to the building on top of offices, retail and a car museum.

What we're watching: The Stutz appears to be only the beginning of increased activity in the northwest portion of downtown.

• More than $9 billion in development projects are slated for downtown in the coming years, per the IBJ, chief among them a $4.3 billion Indiana University Health hospital complex that will drive foot traffic south of 12th Street — and to the threshold of the Stutz in the coming years.

What they're saying: "That connectivity (with IU Health) will probably help get some leasing momentum," Matt Waggoner, a senior managing director for commercial brokerage JLL, tells Axios.

The bottom line: The Stutz stands alone, for now, but it sits in an area of downtown that could take off in just a few years.