What Phase One Delivers
Gershman Partners and Citimark expect to spend about $200 million converting the 20-story Gold Building at 151 Delaware Street into 354 apartments, IBJ reported on 7 May 2024. The price includes renovations to the adjacent Ohio Street parking garage, a complete replacement of the mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, a facade change to a subdued silver tone with new window paneling, and about 9,000 square feet of street-level retail.
The unit mix runs from studios to three-bedrooms. A portion of the apartments is reserved for lower-income individuals and families, which the city requires for the project to receive tax-increment financing. IBJ's September 2025 reporting describes the conversion as replacing 400,000 square feet of vacant office space with more than 350 apartments and nearly 8,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, plus a cleaned-up Wabash Street alley between the block's two halves. Gershman and Citimark bought the tower and 251 E. Ohio St. in March 2019.
Phase Two and the Lease Behind It
Phase two covers the City Market building: improvements to the market, demolition of its east wing, and construction of an 11-story, 60-unit apartment tower in the wing's place. The tower would sit on land leased to the developer by the city, and the lease payments would go toward City Market operations. The market building has been closed since March 2024.
The developers floated a separate $40 million apartment tower for the east plaza. IBJ reported in September 2025 that the project is not currently moving forward, and that the Gold Building delay had stalled development on the city-owned portion of the block. Vukusich said discussions on the east plaza are tabled until the conversion is further along.
The City's Money, in Two Instruments
The city approved up to $18.8 million in tax-increment financing bond incentives in early 2023 for the City Market block redevelopment in its entirety. The Metropolitan Development Commission approved a further $18 million bridge loan on 17 September 2025, voting 8-0 with no discussion.
The bridge loan and the bond incentives are separate instruments. The loan is funded through the city's consolidated downtown TIF district, and the agreement makes it eligible for forgiveness on terms IBJ did not obtain. The state's contribution is an Indiana Economic Development Corporation commitment of $10 million in redevelopment tax credits, with up to $10 million more offered through the Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative. The city asked for letters of commitment from the state on both before it would finalise the loan.
The Terms Written Into the Loan
The city pays a lump sum to First Financial Bank to satisfy the original mortgage, then assumes the debt. The developers must close their construction loan within nine months of receiving the bridge loan and repaying the bank. If the construction loan or another part of the plan falls through, they repay the loan immediately with 7 percent interest and give up all three buildings on the northern half of the block. The city can withdraw its loan offer if the developers do not secure construction funding.
Merchants Bank provides the construction loan, and Milhaus is an equity and development partner. The agreement requires monthly meetings with the developers' financial partners, the Department of Metropolitan Development and Indianapolis Economic Development Inc. It carries a shared appreciation clause that lets the city recover part of its investment if the properties are sold within a set period.
Where the Delivery Risk Sits
Phase one depends on a construction loan, a nine-month clock and a cost estimate that moved from $120 million to $200 million. The city holds the backstop. Two sources told IBJ the administration would be open to demolishing one or more of the structures, the Gold Building included, if the city took possession.
Eric Gershman disputed the foreclosure framing. He told IBJ the developers had never missed a payment and had received multiple 12-month extensions on a mortgage tied to a planned office refresh. Gershman and Citimark have spent about $15 million over two years on renovations to 251 E. Ohio St. and the garage between it and the Gold Building.
The west plaza left the partnership. The city withdrew from that piece earlier in 2025 and issued a request for proposals for a new developer the following month. The planned $15 million project exposes most of the historic Indianapolis Catacombs and becomes the new front entrance to the conversion. Eric Gershman described the move to IBJ as more of a divide-and-conquer approach that lets both pieces proceed at the same time.
The Clock a Booking Calendar Can Use
Gershman and Citimark told IBJ in September 2025 that construction would start in the first quarter of 2026 and finish by mid-2028. The City Market reopening carries no date, and the board chair of the City Market Corp. told IBJ that a 2028 reopening is no longer feasible. The plaza renovation is expected to wrap up by the end of 2027.
Downtown Indianapolis holds 7,100 hotel rooms and 4,700 skywalk-connected rooms on the convention center's own counts. This block adds apartments and retail, and no rooms to either figure.