Construction Tour: Historic “Artsy Area” of Indianapolis

I traveled to Indianapolis a few weeks ago for the FABULOUS Moto-GP races held at “The Brick Yard”.

Whenever I go to a new place, I gain a toe-hold on the town by going to local artsy or foodie locations. We found this quaint historic area of Indy around the cross roads of Massachusetts and College Avenues.

The area is full of beautiful historic wood framed 2 story homes and new infill stone and brick 2 story homes and condos. Additionally, amenities such as pubs, restaurants, B&B’s, theater, arts, shops etc are all in easy walking distance.

I’m sure the area is very pricey since we saw a simple historic 2 story home being worked on.

The cost to renovate this small 19th century house is easily going to get into the $250 per sf price range since it has to meet modern code. If I do a quick think on the numbers it will cost about $300,000 to renovate, PLUS cost to purchase the house. There must be local tax breaks for preserving these homes vs doing tear downs and infill, though this too was going on in the area.

I spoke to the carpenters working on this little house. They told me the house was originally built on grade. So they had to jack it up so they could dig a basement, build foundation forms, pour a monolithic foundation, correct damaged first floor joists + rim joists, then gut and remodel this inside of this cute house.

Other lots had new construction or mid century construction recently renovated. Nothing exceeded 2-3 stories so the charm ing intimate character of the area was preserved.

Indy has limestone remember. So most of the local commercial buildings, monuments and many residential buildings have limestone elements, or are build primarily with this stone!

Hope you enjoyed the tour!