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Southside Quality of Life Plan begins In 2015, LISC embarked on a new Quality of Life Planning process on the Southside for the area from Garfield Park south to I-465 in conjunction with the University of Indianapolis. The Southside Quality of Life Plan seeks to identify strategies for improving the Southside of Indianapolis through community engagement and a plan for sustained and conscious development. In late February, a Visioning Summit was held with more than 200 residents in attendance to define a shared vision for their neighborhood’s future that included housing, safety, culture, parks, healthcare, childcare, education and economic development.

Pin Project brings more retail opportunities to Fletcher Place Constructed in the 1940s as a 12-lane blowing alley, The Pin is an 11,000 sq. ft. art-deco building in the Fletcher Place neighborhood, located in the Southeast Side quality of life neighborhood. The Pin redevelopment was credit enhanced using money from State Farm Insurance. The target tenant market includes technology and energy companies, which is a growing sector in Indianapolis. Interested in more details? Email Aaron Laramore, LISC Senior Program Manager.

Thanks to all who attended this week’s FOstering Commercial Urban Strategies (FOCUS) Lunch and Learn hosted by “Indy Rezone and Its Impact on Urban Redevelopment” with Tammara Tracy from Department of Metropolitan Development and Jim Rawlinson City of Indianapolis Department of Code Enforcement.

State Farm and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) have announced an expanded effort to build economic opportunity in struggling communities through programs that encourage business development among entrepreneurs and skills development among low-income workers. A new, two-year $4 million State Farm grant will expand LISC Financial Opportunity Centers (FOCs) in under-resourced neighborhoods—helping people improve their incomes, credit scores and savings through education and long-term financial coaching. At the same time, these efforts will help lift up commercial areas and provide safer and more vibrant places for business owners to set up shop, create jobs and grow local incomes. Click … Continued

FOCUS is currently soliciting proposals from design or architecture professionals to provide design assistance to building-owners undertaking improvements partially funded through the Façade Improvement Program. Please submit electronically. Final selection and notification of the applicants will take place by the end of January. LISC will enter into a contract with the Design Consultant from February 1, 2016 through April 30, 2017. Please click here to download the application form. To be considered, responses to this RFP must be received by LISC electronically by 5:30 pm on February 15, 2016. Please send all submissions and refer questions to: Nicholas Johnson Local … Continued

All too often, older industrial and commercial properties in Marion County remain vacant or underutilized due to real or perceived environmental contamination. These properties are known as brownfields and many of these sites represent prime opportunities for redevelopment. An innovative and effective tool for remediating brownfield sites is insurance cost recovery. Insurance cost recovery uses the former insurance policies that were in place when the pollution occurred at a site to pay for the site’s cleanup costs. The insurers have been found liable for such remediation even in cases where the policies were decades old. The Local Initiatives Support Corporation … Continued