Old City Hall's uncertain next step
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The property has been fenced off for a long time, but nothing has changed yet. Photo: Justin L. Mack/Axios
As construction reshapes the city's skyline, one of Indy's high-profile projects has more question marks over its jobsite than cranes.
Driving the news: TWG Development's vision is to transform Old City Hall and an adjacent parking lot at the corner of Ohio and Alabama streets into a multiuse site with 186 apartments, 156 hotel rooms, 23 condos, retail space and an art gallery, but progress seems to have stalled.
Why it matters: The city is on the hook for some of the costs.
- In April 2025, the Indianapolis City-County Council approved giving TWG a $66 million loan to cover rising costs that have caused the project's budget to balloon from $140 million when unveiled in August 2023 to $249 million.
- With the approval, TWG said construction could start in July 2025 and finish by July 2028.
Yes, but: The site shows no signs of groundbreaking, and it is unclear what phase of the project TWG is in.
- Multiple calls and emails to the developers requesting comment have not been returned.
- A spokesperson for the city's Department of Metropolitan Development told Axios via email that the department "is working closely with TWG to push the project forward, but we do not have any additional updates to provide at this time."
What they're saying: "Between this and [City Market] down the way, it just looks like a lot of nothing happening," said resident Alvin Claybrooks, who regularly passes the site while walking between his apartment and the Julia M. Carson Transit Center.
- "This [has] been nothing for a long time. They need to get to doing something," he said. "This beautiful old building … it feels like a waste."
Flashback: Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, Old City Hall opened in 1910 and was Indy's municipal center until 1962.
- It housed the Indiana State Museum from 1967 to 2002 and provided a temporary home for the Central Library from 2002 to 2007.
- Outside of short-term use, like being used as the site of community planning efforts in the 2010s, the building has largely sat vacant.
What we're watching: If Old City Hall and other major redevelopments targeting the late 2020s will take tangible steps toward completion over the next 12 months.
- The aforementioned project to remix the City Market block includes exposing a part of the catacombs below and converting the Gold Building into a residential structure.
- That project faced several delays throughout 2025 before ending the year in need of a new developer and a "visionary" to come up with a plan for the site's future.
- Circle Centre Mall has finally cleared out the tenants and closed its doors so it can be gutted and reborn as Traction Yards. Developers say the open-air concept will be done in multiple phases, with phase one targeting completion in 2029.
More Indy construction:
Fever break ground on $78M practice facility