With The Stutz building restoration downtown comes an opportunity for one of Indianapolis’ most popular chef teams to open their own restaurant.
The taqueria is one of the new tenants that’s tied to a $65 million investment in the historic Stutz building by SomeraRoad, senior associate Brock Kenyon said. The commercial real estate developer purchased a majority stake in the property in 2021 from local owner Turner Woodard, who now has a minority ownership stake. The investment readies the building for the new tenants and includes capital work, such as new windows, electrical and plumbing infrastructure, and facade repairs, Kenyon said. The developer is finalizing its partnership and development agreement with the city, he said.
“This area of downtown maybe wasn’t as frequently walked or traversed by people from other areas of the neighborhood or other areas of downtown,” Kenyon said. “I think we’re really creating a reason for people to visit.”
When the changes are complete, the ground floor of the buildings will look entirely different. Kenyon said much of the ground floor space was underutilized previously, with alleyways for cars to drive through, maintenance space and a loading dock — the latter of which has been moved to the northern side of the building to make way for a new car museum. Other tenants have relocated within the building or moved out, he said.
By early 2023, several new businesses will open on the ground floor as part of the first phase, Kenyon said. More phases will come after that. The reuse project will comprise 290,000 square feet of office space when it’s finished, according to a release from SomeraRoad.
“There have been a lot of iterations to the ground floor and how we wanted to program it. But we worked very diligently with our architecture partners in (New York-based) S9 Architecture and Delv Design, which is local to Indianapolis, in programming it thoughtfully and creatively to come up with this final design,” Kenyon said.
“We think that what we’ve put together allows us to create a good flow of people throughout the building and to different areas.”
