Mayor Joe Hogsett has an idea for what should happen to the former Greenlawn Cemetery.
Rather than moving forward with a $1.5-billion Eleven Park development that would include a 20,000-seat soccer stadium, Hogsett said the historic site could be turned into a memorial or park to honor the city’s residents who were buried there.
“We do take that ground as very sacred ground,” Hogsett told reporters after a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Frederick Douglass Family Center on May 23. “I think there are a lot of different opportunities for us to take advantage of, and we’re simply trying to resolve this matter in as equitable and as fair way as we possibly can.”
His comments come one day after his office sent a letter to Ersal Ozdemir, the CEO of Keystone Group and owner of Indy Eleven, offering to purchase the 20-acre site “at fair market value.” In the letter, the city raised concerns about how many human remains are still located on the site despite more than a century of industrial activity.
The city estimated as many as 650 human remains are still located on just a single acre of the former Greenlawn site where the city is building the Henry Street Bridge.
Keystone immediately rebuffed the offer. In a statement, Keystone Chief of Staff Jennifer Pavlik called it a “last-ditch effort to salvage the bungled rollout of a half-baked idea” and accused the city of spreading “misinformation” and embracing “divisive politics and bare-knuckle intimidation.”
In a separate press release, Keystone said its team discovered 87 “burials” across six acres — though it’s unclear what the company means by that.
Community advocates have noted that Greenlawn Cemetery — a catch-all term for four historic cemeteries, with the first established around 1821 — likely saw people buried in layers. It included a section designated for some of the city’s earliest Black residents.
The company did not respond to a question asking whether the 87 burials constituted individual remains or graves with multiple bodies.
But, company officials said, Keystone hopes to move the remains to the westside Mount Jackson Cemetery “as the location for reinterment and memorialization.”
The back-and-forth is just the latest development in an ongoing public feud between the Hogsett administration and Ozdemir, who has tried unsuccessfully for years to bring a Major League Soccer team to Indianapolis.
Last month, Hogsett revealed that he had met with MLS Commissioner Don Garber to discuss the prospect of bringing an MLS expansion team to Indianapolis. An ownership group — which was later revealed to be led by sports executive Tom Glick, who helped bring an MLS team to Charlotte — has expressed interest in bringing a team to Indy, Hogsett said.
Human remains and negotiations
The city arrived at the 650 figure based on more than a year of work by a team of consultants, including archaeologists, geologists and historians, said Brandon Herget, the city’s director of public works.
“We know there are still artifacts from that time, there are still skeletal remains, and there’s still a legacy and a history at that site that has been erased. But we don’t know exactly what’s under there,” Herget told Mirror Indy.
The city anticipates it would cost $12 million to properly treat the remains.
But the possibility of human remains might not be the only reason why negotiations broke down between Keystone Group and the city.
Dan Parker, Hogsett’s chief of staff, told reporters Thursday that negotiations between the city and Ozdemir for his Eleven Park ended after city officials determined the project was financially infeasible.
‘I don’t think they deserve to touch another inch of that ground.’
Jonathan Howe, the president of West Indianapolis Neighborhood Congress
Parker said that “the economics of that proposal just didn’t work,” and Hogsett said Keystone’s request for added incentives was “the death knell” of the negotiations.
Keystone officials have said that the request was always intended to be a first step in a negotiation.
When asked whether he thought MLS officials would consider Eleven Park for a soccer stadium, Hogsett speculated that the organization “doesn’t like locating clubs where there is a great deal of public outcry or lack of public support.”
An MLS spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment May 23.
In December, the City-County Council provided initial approval for a special taxing district to pay for Eleven Park, but it was later revealed that Hogsett’s office had not submitted the information to a state legislative committee for final approval.
The district, called a Professional Sports Development Area, was made possible through 2019 state legislation that Ozdemir lobbied for.
Hogsett is now using that mechanism to propose an alternative site, at the downtown Indianapolis Heliport, for a soccer stadium should the city land an MLS expansion team.
Hogsett acknowledged the efforts of Ozdemir over the past decade and said the city should make a “good faith effort” to make him whole.
The developer purchased the former Diamond Chain factory in 2022 for $7.6 million, according to the Indianapolis Business Journal, with plans to also add a hotel, apartments, office buildings and retail spaces.
‘All of the spirits will shout with joy’
Situated away from the political fighting are community advocates who want to preserve and honor the history of Greenlawn.
For preservationist Eunice Trotter, creating a space where people could walk, take picnics or simply relax would be more respectful of the land’s history.
“I think all of the spirits will shout with joy,” said Trotter, director of the Black Heritage Preservation Program at Indiana Landmarks and a community advisory group formed to uncover the history of Greenlawn.
And for Leon Bates, a historian and advisory group member, the city’s offer to purchase the site isn’t a publicity stunt.
“I think the city being willing to buy the property from the developer is a fair proposition based on the fact that there’s going to be a lot of very expensive remediation of this property,” Bates told Mirror Indy on May 22.
Not everyone believes the city is acting benevolently.
Jonathan Howe, the president of West Indianapolis Neighborhood Congress, said he thinks Hogsett is emphasizing the human remains to gain an advantage in public opinion.
Still, he believes Keystone hasn’t been transparent enough. So no matter what happens next, Howe hopes Keystone isn’t involved.
“I don’t think they deserve to touch another inch of that ground,” Howe told Mirror Indy.
Fans of Indy Eleven, meanwhile, have watched the saga play out from the sidelines with great interest.
David Ziemba, president of Brickyard Battalion, the nonprofit support group of Indy Eleven, said he believes the Eleven Park project can move forward while honoring those who were buried at the site.
“It seems as though we all still need to get in a room together and hammer something out where everybody can walk away a winner,” Ziemba said.
What’s next?
Hogsett’s proposal passed an initial hurdle earlier this month and will be heard May 28 by the city’s Rules and Public Policy Committee, which will provide a recommendation to the full council.
Unless the proposal is referred to a different committee or postponed, it will be heard at the next City-County Council meeting June 3.
The city faces a June 30 deadline to submit a taxing district map to the state.
A correction was made on May 24, 2024: An earlier version of this article incorrectly described the City-County Council legislative process.
Peter Blanchard covers local government. Reach him at 317-605-4836 or peter.blanchard@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @peterlblanchard.
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