I had scheduled a podcast recording session with Jake Reardon McSoley and Mayor Scott Fadness Friday, in advance of the announcement of a major mixed-use development project along 116th Street in downtown Fishers, just west of the Nickel Plate Trail.

The eye-popping part of this new development, REV, will be condos selling for between $600,000 and $1 million. There have been apartments and some single family homes in the downtown Fishers area, but condos with a price tag of as much as $1 million is something new for the downtown housing stock.

I told Mayor Fadness, as someone living in Fishers for more than 30 years, I never expected to see downtown housing with that high an asking price.  Fadness told me this will create a variety of housing in that part of the city.

“For each person, they have a different life style, different desire to live in a different type of environment and this creates yet another option for folks,” the mayor said in our podcast conversation.

Fadness described how the Alboher family, owner of the property, and developer Tony Birkla, presented the idea of the development, and the mayor considered this “an extraordinary site.”  The mayor says he mulled this proposal over in his mind.

“It’s in the heart of downtown.  It’ll face our brand new City Hall and Arts Center,” said Fadness. “One side will parallel the Nickel Plate Trail and the Nickel Plate Hotel that will break ground here shortly.  I think that location warrants kind of that caliber of development.”

However, the reaction I have seen on my blog post once this project was announced has been interesting.  Some have criticized this as us trying to be Carmel.  Some are supportive.  Others have asked what will become of the businesses currently located on that site, such as Burn Boot Camp and Thai Sushi House.

I followed up with the city on the current businesses at that location and was told the Alboher family, the owners of the property, is working with the business owners on possible relocations.  What is next for those businesses will be announced by the businesses themselves, according to Fishers city officials.

At the end of the podcast Friday, Mayor Fadness teased that much more is coming before the next City Council meeting August 15th.  The REV development is an investment of about $35 million.  Fadness says there will be more projects announced in the coming days and, all told, will be an investment of roughly one-quarter of a billion dollars within the City of Fishers.  He described one upcoming announcement as “downright cool.”

So, we will be watching for more announcements in the coming week.  And, at the council meeting, the incentive packages being offered by the city (and possibly others) will be revealed and subject to council approval.