You hear all the time in real estate that flipping houses is more of a loss than a gain… But what about flipping historical baseball stadiums?
Stadium Apartments in Indianapolis are located at the former Bush Stadium…
A previously active baseball stadium.
But how did the building go from having players on the field… to having renters where the stands should be?
From Baseball Stadium To Luxury Apartments
The former baseball stadium turned apartment complex, Stadium Apartments…
Caught extra attention this year due to virality on social media. Many people, once seeing the post, were left asking…
How did these apartments come about?
The historic Bush Stadium was home to Indianapolis Indians from 1931 to 1996, being abandoned shortly after.
Years later, John Watson was on the board of Indiana Landmarks…
A historical preservation society that was tasked with finding a way to repurpose the building…
When he had the idea to turn it into apartments.
Months later the city urged him to continue with his plans, or the stadium would be torn down.
SHOCKINGLY, THE CITY HANDED OVER THE DEED TO THE LAND FOR ONE WHOLE DOLLAR.
However, the city did add one condition to the deal: Watson and his team also had to build apartments adjacent to the baseball stadium. But to them, the project was a no-brainer.
In 2011, construction and renovations began. Watson brought his two sons and Michael Cox as owners and investors on the project.
The entire initiative finished two years later in 2013. In terms of funds, both the renovations for the stadium and the apartment flats took a little over $13 million each.
MEANING BOTH PROJECTS WERE COMPLETED FOR ABOUT $27 MILLION.
The baseball stadium has 138 one and two-bedroom apartments, with rents averaging between $900 and $1700.
Keeping Old Charm
By the time the apartments, both in the old baseball stadium and adjacent to it, were ready…
Every unit had been leased out.
The deal with the city to build the flats went exactly as planned since the new development helped revitalize the city’s downtown.
The renovations for the baseball stadium were especially challenging…
Since the reno team had to figure out how to work with the existing infrastructure…
And implement new plans that would work for apartment layouts.
They did so with flying colors.
One of the priorities Watson and Cox had going into the initiative was paying homage to the original baseball stadium…
By keeping some of the original features or revamping them to benefit the new apartments…
Some of the revamped/original features include:
- Basepads made out of concrete in the playing field
- Original scoreboard
- Revamped press box on top of the building
- Original ticket booths in entryways
Most of Indianapolis was thrilled to see that the historic baseball stadium would be repurposed…
Rather than being torn down completely.
As far as real estate properties go, it’s always nice to see people not only create a new, successful property…
But also honor its historical past.
Players may no longer run across its fields…
But the memory of this stadium is anything but going, going, gone.
Be Great,
GCTV Staff
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