The much-awaited announcement by the City of Indianapolis on the selection of the parking garage design/location happened on June 13, 2011, at 10am to a crowd of about 75. The location of Mayor Ballard's press conference let us know in advance of the location of the project - the wedge of land between College Avenue and Westfield Boulevard that includes Marco's Pizza and the abandoned Marathon station.

At 10am Ballard stood beside the rendering of the selected mixed-use parking structure for Broad Ripple.

"As you know we received several bids for the Broad Ripple parking garage, but one stood out from the rest," announced Ballard. "This garage will help alleviate the parking issues of the residents and visitors alike. This is something that the residents of Broad Ripple have been requesting for years. I am happy to tell you we expect a shovel in the ground this summer, and the grand opening next spring or early summer."

Broad Ripple's City-County Councilor and council president Ryan Vaughn, and Broad Ripple Village Association (BRVA) board member Tom Healy also spoke at the press conference.

The new project, with a total cost of about $15 million, will receive $6.35 million from the City. Those funds came from the up-front money generated by the new parking meter contract with ACS. The structure is expected to produce a third of a million dollars in property tax revenues each year, as there are no tax abatements on the project. The building will include 25,000 sq. ft. of retail space and about 350 parking spaces. A police substation will be provided for the City, free of charge.

There were several teams with proposals for structures at various sites in the Village. The City allowed the BRVA to play a somewhat unusual role in the process. Tom Healy and Elizabeth Marshall, both on the BRVA board of directors, participated in the selection process to assure that the needs of the Village were understood. The winning team includes Keystone Construction, Newpoint Parking, Ratio architects, and Walker Parking Consultants.

Todd Morris of Newpoint Parking, located in the Riviera Building at Westfield and the Canal and owns the Marco's Pizza site, partnered with Keystone Construction.

"The reason I went with them is because of their Sophia Square project in Carmel," explained Morris. "I saw that [Keystone Construction] could pull off a mixed-use development of that size with a very large parking component."

Ratio joined the project to do the architectural design of the building, using Walker Parking Consultants to give their expertise on the parking garage component.

"Marco's Pizza is being a very good corporate citizen through all of this," said Morris. "They have a lease in place [on the Westfield and College Avenue site that will be torn down for the new development] for a couple of years. What they have agreed to do, which is very beneficial to the development, is to temporarily relocate in the Village, and then after the development of the garage is finished will move back into the new space. Marco's Pizza has been very good to work with, knowing that they are going to have to do a double move."

When construction is complete, Newpoint Parking will manage the parking garage which will be fully automated. Keystone Construction will own the building and will manage the leasing of the retail space. Morris explained that although both sections of the property contained gas stations in the past, the entire site has received NFA (no further action) status, meaning there is no soil contamination that will need to be cleaned before construction can start.

A public meeting is planned for July to get feedback from the residents on the plans for the building. This structure and the accompanying residential parking permit program (which will be announced later) will make a major impact of the Village. The Gazette thanks Mayor Ballard and all who participated in the process.