Indianapolis' Signia Hotel hits the home stretch

Driving the news: Hilton this week unveiled dining and nightlife concepts for the development while confirming that guest stays are still on track to begin Dec. 9.

• The concepts include Torchlight, a two-story cocktail lounge on the 38th floor; Rosewater's, a lobby bar facing Georgia Street; Heartwood, a Midwest-inspired grill; Slipstream, a racing-themed café and market; Deck on 5, a rooftop pool venue; and Club Signia.
• A separate upscale restaurant is planned for summer 2027.

State of play: The project is nearing substantial completion more than three years after its summer 2023 groundbreaking.

• The work being done between now and the ribbon cutting will focus on getting furniture and supplies inside.

What they're saying: RATIO architect Bill Browne called the Signia an opportunity to put "a new punctuation mark" on the Indianapolis skyline during last week's State of Downtown event, noting his team was tasked with building one of the city's "first high-rises since the late '80s (and) '90s."

• The project later received the Downtown Indy Alliance (DIA) 2026 Champion Award for "Changing Our Skyline," recognizing developments that make downtown distinctive and new.
• "If we want to become a really strong sort of creative city, I think we have to sort of embody that in the architecture that we build, and I'm really hopeful that this building … elevates the sense of design and pushes more interesting architecture for our city," Browne said.

Zoom in: For Capital Improvement Board executive director Andy Mallon, one of the most important parts of the project is the "participation of local people."

• During the event, he said that $2 million worth of public art has been placed in and around the lobby, and 45% of the workers on-site are from Marion County.
• "This is the people's building," he said. "The city of Indianapolis owns this building. Hilton will run it, but this is built as a public asset."

Flashback: The redevelopment was announced in 2018 as a $120 million convention center expansion plus two privately financed hotels. It has since become a roughly $780 million hotel and convention center project.

Yes, but: Visit Indy president and CEO Leonard Hoops said discussions related to the project started in 2014 when some of Indy's largest annual convention partners made it clear that outgrowing the Circle City was a real possibility.

• The city took over financing and ownership of the hotel in 2023 after developer Kite Realty couldn't secure private financing.
• The Signia portion grew from a $300 million estimate in 2020 to about $571 million in 2025, after the CIB approved another $70 million for overruns, and is now pegged at about $581 million.
• Including interest, the city's projected long-term debt obligation has topped $1.6 billion.

Zoom out: DIA's annual State of Downtown report, released to coincide with the event, painted a city center in transition.

• Downtown population is now 30,819, up about 1% from last year, but it still has a lot of ground to cover to reach a goal of adding 20,000 people over the next decade.
• Office vacancy climbed nearly 24% from nearly 23% in 2025, above the national average of 18%.
• The Signia stands as one of the city's biggest swings at boosting foot traffic, spending and activity in the area.

The bottom line: Hoops and other local leaders believe the development can knock it out of the park.

• "By the end of this decade, people aren't going to recognize this place," Hoops said. "Downtown Indy will have all the buzz … and I think even our suburban counterparts will say, hey, there's a new reason to come downtown."