Located about 32 miles from downtown Indianapolis, the city of Shelbyville is seeing a residential renaissance. Single-family construction permits have more than doubled since 2021. (IBJ photos/Chad Williams)
•
•
Adam Rude drives around Shelbyville and likes what he sees. There’s the ongoing construction of a roundabout leading into town from Interstate 74. The Smoothie King that opened earlier this year and the Wingstop that opened in July. The busy parking lots at the city’s three biggest employers: Knauf Insulation, Ryobi Die Casting and Horseshoe Indianapolis—the casino with a horse-racing track owned and operated by Reno, Nevada-based Caesars Entertainment.
And the housing. So much new housing.
For the better part of 175 years, since its incorporation as a city in 1850, Shelbyville existed as a distant exurb of Indianapolis, with a population that reached around 20,000 in 2020. From the recession in 2008 until 2019, Shelbyville had no proposals for residential developments. New-home construction was confined to individual, single-family houses.
“Right around 40 or so homes a year was kind of our average for the longest time,” said Rude, the city’s planning director. “And then I think a few builders were willing to take a risk here. D.R. Horton was the first to dip their feet in. In late 2017, they picked up an old 2008 recession neighborhood and built it out. When they showed up and proved that they could build, the rest all came flocking in.”
New-home permits double
The city now has five developments under construction: Isabelle Farms by Arbor Homes (249 houses on the north side and three on the southeast side), Summerfield by D.R. Horton (187 houses), Bear Run by MI Homes (168), Twelve Oaks by Taylor Morrison (148) and Stratford Place by Davis Homes (73).
Arbor Homes started building Isabelle Farms in 2019. When the pandemic hit and the housing market exploded across the region and huge portions of the country, “that’s when everyone started knocking on the door,” Rude said. “In 2020 and 2021, they started getting their approvals and breaking ground.”
In addition to housing developments, the number of single-family home permits has more than doubled since 2021, averaging nearly 90 per year. So far this year, the number of new housing permits is 126 through August, which compares favorably with nearby Franklin (91) and Greenwood (189).
“Shelbyville offers attainable housing opportunities at a time when affordability is becoming a major challenge across central Indiana,” said Chris Hancock, CEO of the Builders Association of Greater Indianapolis. “As lot and home prices have climbed in neighboring counties, Shelbyville’s lower land costs and growing infrastructure have made it more appealing to builders and buyers alike. It’s also benefited from steady population growth, new amenities and proactive local leadership welcoming responsible development.”
And while Shelbyville, 32 miles from downtown Indianapolis, might feel like a long commute, it’s not significantly farther than other growing communities, Hancock noted, like Franklin (25 miles), Greenfield (25) or Lebanon (28). Or, for that matter, popular northern suburbs like Fishers (21 miles), Noblesville (27) and Westfield (28).
Jerrod Klein, vice president of sales for Taylor Morrison, said his construction company has watched Shelbyville develop over the past few years. Klein said the housing numbers tell the story: In August, the number of building permits in the overall nine-county Indianapolis market was up 3% over August 2024. Shelbyville, in that same year-to-year comparison, jumped from 64 building permits to 141, a 120% increase.
“The great thing about Shelbyville is, it offers such a historic Midwest, small-town charm and is a very desirable location,” Klein said. “You can hop right on the interstate to downtown Indianapolis and have all the benefits the big city provides, but then still go home at night or on the weekends and have that true small-town feel with a real sense of community.”
Taylor Morrison opened its Twelve Oaks model homes last fall, “and we have seen great success there since,” he said. The company is on pace to build 50 homes there this year and expects to have 150 finished by 2027.
Klein said he expects Taylor Morrison to continue to build in Shelbyville beyond Twelve Oaks.
“It takes a couple of years from the point of finding the land to going through all the approvals, developing the ground and getting to where you can pull a building permit and start the first house,” he said. “So, we’re really already looking for where that next Shelbyville location can be for us.”
A sense of community
The Taylor Morrison houses in Twelve Oaks range from 1,350 to 3,000 square feet, with three to six bedrooms and up to three full bathrooms. They sell from $235,000 to mid-$300,000s–which is roughly typical of all four new developments in Shelbyville.
Those prices, which compare favorably to new-housing costs elsewhere in the Indianapolis metropolitan area, are one of the factors that led Steve Mougeotte, an account executive with WXIN-TV Channel 59/WTTV-TV Channel 4, to buy a home in Shelbyville.
Mougeotte, who grew up in Yorktown, moved to Shelbyville in 2021 after having lived on the south side of Indianapolis and in Fishers. Shelbyville “brings me back to where it’s a little bit of a slower pace and just kind of nice,” he said. “You get to see people when you’re out and about. I had no sense of community when I lived in Fishers.”
“But the big thing that drew me,” he added, “is that I got the same house that I could have gotten in Greenwood, but for about $150,000 less. The same exact floor plan and a bigger yard for my two dogs. Ultimately, what I saw was an opportunity to be part of a community that has the ability to be the next big area of growth in Indy.”
For Mougeotte, the move added miles to his commute—Fox 59 is near West 79th Street and Interstate 465—but “driving doesn’t bother me,” he said. “If I was going from the south side, it’d be 40-some minutes, so it’s only a few minutes more. Shelbyville just seems far, but once you hit 465 and you hit 74, it’s just smooth sailing.”
Not ‘just keeping pace’
In addition to single-family houses, Shelbyville has added two apartment complexes—168 units downtown and 138 units on the west side. Rude said the city’s next goal is to bring some diversity to the housing market, and officials are in conversations about the possibility of duplexes, condos or town houses—“different product types for all the different needs in life.”
He also predicted that an increase in population to 25,000, from an estimated 21,000 now, is realistic by the end of the decade.
As with any growth, it has come with growing pains—an increase in traffic, some school redistricting to make room for new students. But as Rude said, “It’s a good problem to have. Much better than a shrinking community.”
Mayor Scott Furgeson said all this construction and growth is “a clear signal to investors and developers: Shelbyville is a growth market. Families are moving here, builders are investing here, and together we are strengthening our workforce, expanding our tax base and driving long-term economic vitality. Shelbyville is no longer just keeping pace—we’re setting the pace for suburban growth in central Indiana.”
Copyright © 2025 All Rights Reserved.