Cities and towns around central Indiana are preparing to move forward on projects that will receive funding through the second round of state-funded regional grants from the Indiana Economic Development Corp.
Take Plainfield, for example. The Hendricks County town, west of the Indianapolis International Airport, will receive $2.3 million through the state’s Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative, or READI, to help turn 1,800 acres on the south side of town into the second-largest municipal park in the Indianapolis area.
Only Eagle Creek Park in Indianapolis, at 4,766 acres, would be larger than the expanded Echo Hollow Nature Park, which would be nearly the same size as McCormick's Creek State Park in Owen County. Echo Hollow, formerly Sodalis Nature Park, currently encompasses 210 acres between Interstate 70 and State Road 67.
The first phase of the park’s expansion is expected to cost $52.7 million.
“When you’re talking 1,800 acres, we quickly realized this isn’t just a town of Plainfield asset,” Town Manager Andrew Klinger said. “This becomes a regional asset for all of central Indiana.”
Klinger said the READI program also pushed Plainfield to get started on the 6,000-acre area that includes Echo Hollow Nature Park called the East Fork Innovation District that the town created last year. Plainfield hopes to develop business and residential space there, and a life sciences park, to go along with advanced logistics companies that have already taken root.
“That definitely came out of the READI process,” Klinger said. “I think it kind of forced us to think about all the different pieces and components of, how do we address job creation? How do we address housing? How do we address, obviously, the park and the amenities part of it, and piecing that together in one cohesive unit?”
Thinking both creatively and regionally is a goal of the Central Indiana Regional Development Authority, or CIRDA, and that played a part in helping Echo Hollow Nature Park become one of the 21 projects totaling $2.8 billion in investment approved last June by the group’s members.
The funding recipients include mixed-use projects in Bargersville, Carmel, Greencastle, Greenfield, McCordsville and Martinsville; an amphitheater in Anderson; a civic center in Avon; the Innovation Mile in Noblesville; an amphitheater in Anderson; parks in Mooresville and Plainfield; a gateway project in Cumberland; a sports complex in Elwood; a public plaza in Greenwood; a workforce housing development in Martinsville; a parking garage in Westfield; roundabouts in Zionsville; an innovation campus and an active adult center in Franklin; and the redevelopment of Circle Centre Mall, Old City Hall and the City Market campus in downtown Indianapolis.
CIRDA—led by Chair and Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness, Vice Chair and Noblesville Mayor Chris Jensen and Executive Director Jennifer Messer—considered more than 100 projects before submitting the 21 that passed the test to the IEDC in the second round of the READI initiative, known as READI 2.0. The purpose of the READI program is to generate growth and attract business to every corner of Indiana.
“I think something exceptional that these READI dollars have done is, they really have brought together central Indiana in a way that just has never happened before,” Messer said.
In 2021, the READI program, launched by former Gov. Eric Holcomb, allocated a share of $500 million to 17 regions before three regions in central Indiana—White River, 180 Alliance and Mount Comfort—came together to form the singular Central Indiana Regional Development Authority in 2022 in advance of the READI 2.0 program.
In April 2024, the IEDC awarded CIRDA $45 million through the READI 2.0 program. CIRDA leaders had requested $75 million, so they had to adjust.
“We had far more demand than money available,” Fadness said, “even before we were at $45 million, before they gave us that amount, when we were trying to narrow down our proposal.”
CIRDA communities have not yet received READI 2.0 funds because the IEDC requires regions to spend 65% of their READI 1.0 dollars before money in the second round is released. CIRDA members have spent about 55% of their READI 1.0 grant funds so far.
Regional cooperation
Westfield Mayor Scott Willis said he asked for a $5 million READI 2.0 grant and received $4 million that will go toward construction of a parking garage at the city’s planned Park & Poplar downtown redevelopment project.
“The one thing I love about being part of CIRDA is that all the mayors want to help each other out,” he said. “I think it’s a pretty collaborative approach, so we were happy to give up a million to let another community have some money in that program.”
CIRDA is one of 14 regional groups in the state and consists of 28 cities and towns, plus Hamilton County.
Fadness said the challenging part now is that projects are typically public-private partnerships, which means the private company wants to get projects moving. The effort now for CIRDA, he said, is to work with the IEDC to get funds released as soon as possible.
“They’re all in different phases,” he said. “Some are, ‘Hey, I need this money yesterday because we’re going.’ Others are, ‘This is the exact timeline that I need.’ And then there are some others that we’re nudging along saying, ‘Hey, you need to get yourself organized and get ready because these funds are coming, and [you’ve] got to be ready for it.’”
Accelerating the process
Klinger said the wait for funds has not slowed Plainfield’s planning for Echo Hollow Nature Park. In fact, he said the promise of READI 2.0 dollars added speed to the town’s process.
The town’s $2.3 million READI 2.0 grant will go toward building park amenities, an art installation and a boardwalk trail surrounding a 5.5-acre lake. The town opened the boardwalk trail in November, and community leaders are working on design and bidding for a section of trail.
The town is working on a master plan for the entire project, which will be developed by Indianapolis-based Rock Creek Partners LLC, a subsidiary of Indianapolis-based Ambrose Property Group.
“We’ve been moving forward in anticipation that we’ll get reimbursed when they’re able to release those dollars,” Klinger said. “READI is about accelerating projects, and that is definitely what is happening here.”
Much of the land dedicated to the Echo Hollow Nature Park expansion belonged to the Indianapolis Airport Authority until Plainfield purchased 1,800 acres from the airport authority in 2011 for $1.6 million. The property is the habitat of the endangered Indiana bat and can be used only for park and conservation purposes.
The first phase of Echo Hollow Nature Park will include nature trails, a new road network and a gate around the park. Longer term, Klinger said, the town wants to build amenities typically found at Indiana state parks, such as a lodge, a nature center, an RV park, a campground, overlooks, shleters and modern restrooms. Park development is expected to take about a decae.
“Our proposal, I think, really does strike at the heart of what IEDC was looking for with these READI proposals, which is that we’re going to build a regional asset that’s going to benefit everybody in the area, but at the same time, we’re building out infrastructure and attracting industry to that area, as well,” Klinger said.
He added that the READI process helped Plainfield leaders think about the entirety of the East Fork Innovation District, which encompasses the far-east side of town, running along the county line with Marion County from U.S. 40 and down Ronald Reagan Parkway to areas south of Interstate 70.
“This is the future of growth in Plainfield, not necessarily from a residential standpoint, but as an employment center, and then, of course, you have the regional-park asset as part of it, as well,” Klinger said.
Moving ahead
Jensen said the biggest impact of READI 2.0 in central Indiana is that it is allowing communities like Noblesville, Plainfield and Westfield to accelerate project timelines.
“The quicker these projects happen, the quicker the end results happen, and a lot of them are tied to economic impact studies,” he said. “The quicker we’re able to get these in the ground and going, the quicker we can reap the benefits on the back end and kind of move on to the next project.”
Bargersville Town Manager Dax Norton said a mixed-use development called The Jefferson will receive a $4 million READI 2.0 grant and kick off redevelopment of the town’s downtown on a dilapidated property at the intersection of state roads 135 and 144.
“If we waited on the traditional market, we’re probably three or four years out, so certainly, it’s an acceleration,” Norton said. “Accelerating that first catalyst project on that corridor is incredibly important. It’s a confidence builder for the remainder of the private investors to understand that this is not a risky investment.”
The bill that formed CIRDA in 2020 included a five-year sunset clause that would end the statute that created the regional group at the end of this year. However, state legislators are working on Senate Bill 516, authored by Sens. Brian Buchanan, R-Lebanon, and Jeff Raatz, R-Richmond, which would repeal the clause. The bill passed a third reading in the House of Representatives on Monday and will return to the Senate with amendments.
Fadness said the challenge for the central Indiana region after READI 2.0 will be to ensure that the area is “operating and thinking like a cohesive unit” 10 years from now.
“And we’ll have to do that even when there isn’t $45 million on the table,” he said.
Copyright © 2025 All Rights Reserved.