Old Indianapolis City Hall on Alabama Street is fenced off and quiet, a high-profile redevelopment site that was supposed to redraw the downtown skyline now looking more like a long-term layover. The TWG-led project, once rolled out with glossy renderings and strong city backing, is still mostly theoretical. That extended hush has locals wondering when, or if, construction will actually start.
What Was Promised
TWG Development pitched a full revival of the ornate 1910 Old City Hall paired with a new mixed-use tower on the adjacent lot. The plan called for market-rate apartments, a hotel, condos, retail and a curated contemporary art gallery to be run by 21c Museum Hotels. The developer and its design team publicly leaned on preservation, promising to showcase the historic building’s details while layering in modern amenities next door.
According to ARCHtrio, the work so far has largely lived in the pre-construction phase, including historic tax credit applications and architectural planning. On paper, it is the kind of project city officials love to tout: heritage polished up, density added, culture sprinkled in.
Money and Timeline
To help make the numbers work, the city signed off in 2025 on a financing package that included up to $66 million in bonds, a move meant to absorb rising construction and preservation costs. Reporting has shown TWG’s overall budget climbing into the mid-hundreds of millions of dollars.
The Indianapolis Business Journal reported the total projected tab at roughly $249 million and noted that the developer had indicated it could break ground once financing was locked in. City and project documents at the time described the public debt as a bridge between the expensive restoration of Old City Hall and construction of the new tower.
Signs of Delay
Yet despite the approvals, the bonds and all the early fanfare, what stands on the block today is a fence, a quiet lawn and not much visible movement. Multiple attempts to get a fresh timeline from the developer have gone unanswered…