I have covered Scott Fadness since 2012, when he was Fishers Town Manager and an employee of the (then) Town Council.  He chose to run for mayor when Fishers became a city and has been the only mayor Fishers has ever had.

I had been watching the past few weeks as Fadness began the build-up for a major economic development announcement he said would add up to a $1.1 billion investment in the city. My first thought was this – the mayor had better deliver after building up the anticipation.

Let’s just say he did.  What Fishers is seeing now is an explosion of commercial growth.  In my time covering Scott Fadness, he doesn’t always show emotions if you watch him in public, but his chest must have been bursting with pride at last Monday night’s City Council meeting.

First, Marissa Andretti talked about the new $200 million headquarters for the Andretti racing team planned for Metropolitan Airport in Fishers, near Richey Woods.  The Andretti family made clear they chose this site partly because of its proximity to Richey Woods and the Andretti family plans to enhance the wildlife there.  This Andretti complex coming to Fishers will not only be the center of all the racing series Andretti enters, there will be a museum and restaurants.  If Michael Andretti is successful in landing a Formula 1 team, that operation will be headquartered at the Fishers facility.

Then, it was Stevanato’s turn at the podium.  The Italian life sciences firm already has a facility planned in Fishers, but recently announced an expansion of the original plans, doubling the number of employees through the year 2031, with a 550 square foot facility and a total of $512 million invested in the Fishers operation.

Last, but certainly not least, is the Fishers District II planned by Thompson Thrift.  This will include retail, restaurants, office space and residential.  This development will be an $800 million project.  The developments mentioned so far are private sector developments where the city will be offering Tax Increment Financing (TIF) incentives, along with some city fee abatement relief.

A large public project will be the $170 million, 8,500 seat events center, also called an arena.  Some events, like hockey and basketball games, will seat about 6,500.  Mayor Fadness detailed a plan to restructure some debt and use revenue generated by the events center to pay for it.

But the mayor needs another source of funds to pay for the arena, the food and beverage tax.  Even though the city’s share of the property tax rate is expected to go down a bit next year, the mayor says an additional 1% levy on restaurant meals will be needed to finance this project.  Communities surrounding Fishers already have this tax.  State law is providing Fishers a two-year window to enact this tax, which began July 1 of this year.

Jim Hallett, owner of the Indy Fuel minor league hockey team, talked about having the events center as the home for his team.  The Fuel would have 30-35 home games per year, possibly more if the Fuel make the playoffs.  One interesting story about the Fuel…Mr. Hallett received permission from the league to keep two Russian players in the United States this off-season, so the men would not go back to Russia and be subject to fighting in the Ukraine war.

In 2013, the state gave the (then) Fishers Town Council authority to approve the food and beverage tax, but there were limits on how to use the revenue, mostly for economic development projects.  There were no such projects in 2013, so the town council tabled the measure and never brought it up again.  That authority under state law expired at the end of 2013.

A resolution of the council’s intention to approve the arena financing plan passed, with the lone no vote cast by Councilor Jocelyn Vare.  She said she is not necessarily against the food and beverage tax, she just needs more time to sort through the issues related to the tax.

Fishers City Council meetings normally start at 7pm, but last Monday the agenda was so long and complex the meeting began at 5:30 so everyone could return home at a decent hour.

One last comment.  Scott Fadness, after one of his most important council meetings, organized himself, staff members and a few council members to take down the chairs at the Huston Theater in Launch Fishers after the crowd was mostly gone.  With a new Arts & City Hall about to be constructed, the city is using Launch Fishers for City Council sessions at least through spring of 2024.

I saw all this activity and figured it was time for me to leave.  Not sure how much a 71-year-old volunteer journalist could help without just getting in the way.