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INDIANAPOLIS

King Park Renewal Earns “Smart Growth” Award

For decades before World War II and shortly thereafter, the King Park neighborhood of Indianapolis was a fortress of middle-class respectability, with tidy lawns, picket fences, and well-kept Victorian homes built in the nineteenth century.

But over the next 40 years, suburban flight emptied 75 percent of the homes in this Near-Northside neighborhood. So unsavory was King Park during this period that it acquired the nickname “Dodge City,” referring to the frequent shootings, boarded-up homes, and brownfields that contaminated the area.

The rebound for King Park began in 1997, when the City of Indianapolis joined with a group of nonprofit organizations, including the Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership (INHP) and Historic Landmarks Association of Indiana, and applied for $4 million in grant funding from HUD’s new Homeownership Zone program. Collaborating with a local community development corporation (CDC)—the King Park Area Development Corporation—and a local real estate developer they restored several dozen Victorians and built approximately 300 homes that blended with the original architectural styles. The price range in the development, called Fall Creek Place, was an affordable $30,000 to $122,000.

The project is a true local partnership. The City invested funds to completely redo the neighborhood’s infrastructure, with all-new streets, sidewalks, anti-crime lights, sewers, and up-to-date water lines. INHP helped to package development financing from area banks. The CDC acted as an intermediary for land between the city (which took over ownership due to back taxes and other delinquencies, and by purchase) and the developer-builders. The Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), an intermediary supported by Living Cities, made funds available to the CDC to make down payment assistance available to qualified buyers.

In 2003, Fall Creek Place earned recognition as an Outstanding Example of Smart Growth from the American Planning Association. The same year, Indianapolis won the first-ever Homeownership Zone Award for its innovative use of the $4 million HUD grant.

“Indianapolis has taken the ball and run with it!” says Nelson Bregon, HUD’s deputy assistant secretary for Community Planning and Development. “Fall Creek Place is a model for how the federal-local partnership can work to restore hope and opportunity.”