Rust Belt Revival

A Midwestern neighborhood manufactures a new culture for Indianapolis.

- KRISTY ALPERT

Indianapolis is booming. According to the World Population Review, the city experienced a growth increase of 8.14 percent in the past year alone, with new infrastructure, new jobs and a wave of innovative entrepreneurs breathing energy into the greater city limits. No neighborhood has been immune to this urban revival, but also no neighborhood has played a bigger role than Windsor Park, just northeast of downtown.

Here a series of abandoned warehouses, deserted factories and empty lots that once exemplified Indiana’s Rust Belt transformed into vibrant art galleries, urban park systems and community-centric businesses the likes of which the city has never seen. The Circle City Industrial Complex — one of the first major projects in the neighborhood — renovated and restored a 540,000-square-foot industrial space into a commercial center now home to a diverse group of tenants including artists, makers, restaurants, breweries, small businesses and more.

“Windsor Park has undergone tremendous growth since we purchased the Circle City Industrial Complex six years ago,” said Rachel Ferguson, vice president, Teagen Development. “Just from the CCIC’s front door we can see nearly a dozen new homes that have been built since we came to the neighborhood and more lots for sale that will accommodate new single-family homes.”