Editor’s note: This article is reported in collaboration between Mirror Indy and IndyStar and is not available for republication in other media. For questions, see Mirror Indy’s content republishing guidelines.
The company behind the downtown CityWay development has finally paid off its approximately $69 million in remaining debt to the city of Indianapolis.
The loan was paid in full on Aug. 5, a city spokesperson said last month.
The payment followed reporting last spring from Mirror Indy and IndyStar that revealed how an affiliate of Indianapolis-based Buckingham Cos. had missed deadlines in 2021 and 2023 to obtain private financing and repay the city. Meanwhile, Buckingham founder and CEO Brad Chambers loaned himself $10.5 million for his largely self-financed 2024 run for governor.
A Buckingham spokesperson labeled the project a success, regardless of how it was financed.
“The CityWay project has been transformative and continues to have a positive impact on the community,” an unnamed spokesperson said in a Jan. 10 emailed statement. “The loan has been satisfied, ensuring bondholders received the full return on their investment, successfully fulfilling the project’s vision and structure.”
In a statement last year explaining the missed deadlines, a company spokesperson cited “widespread and detrimental financial impacts of the pandemic” on commercial real estate.
The CityWay development opened in 2013 and transformed what was once a parking lot near Eli Lilly and Co. into a bustling neighborhood in a key area of downtown.
The first phase included luxury apartments and the high-end Alexander hotel. CityWay continued expanding, adding restaurants, a CVS Pharmacy and the Irsay Family YMCA.
Chambers’ company, which had been approached by Eli Lilly and was not required to bid on the project, owed money to the city because of an agreement struck with former Republican Mayor Greg Ballard’s administration in 2011 on the heels of the Great Recession.
That agreement was labeled by local government finance experts as unusually generous.
Typically, city-backed bonds cover public infrastructure for a project. But in the CityWay agreement, the city financed almost the entire project — issuing nearly $100 million in bonds and then loaning the $86 million in proceeds to Chambers’ company to build the first phase of CityWay.
Chambers’ company also received tens of millions of dollars in state and local taxes to help make debt payments.
The agreement set a 10-year deadline for Chambers’ company to obtain private financing. When the company failed to meet it in 2021, Democrat Mayor Joe Hogsett’s administration and the City-County Council extended the deadline to 2023. The company failed to meet that deadline, too, though it continued making all monthly debt payments.
Some local community leaders and advocates said they were frustrated by what happened.
“We can’t do things that will help citizens. It’s always a fight,” the Rev. David W. Greene, who advocates for civil rights and addressing homelessness, said last spring. “But obviously in this situation, we’re able to do it for Brad Chambers, no questions asked. And he’s got beaucoup dollars.”
Chambers, who also served as secretary of commerce under Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb before resigning to run for governor last year, did not respond to requests for comment through spokespeople, aside from the statements from his company. Chambers lost to Gov. Mike Braun in the May Republican primary.
With the loan repaid, the Hogsett administration gained more flexibility to borrow money for other priorities.
Less than two weeks after the loan's repayment, Hogsett announced how he would use the city's new debt capacity to issue a bond.
While introducing the city’s budget at a City-County Council meeting, Hogsett said the city would fund several infrastructure improvements downtown, including the transformation of Georgia Street into a pedestrian-friendly area.
“Thanks to a $50 million downtown TIF bond, introduced alongside this budget tonight, we can keep using our borrowing power to make substantial changes to our downtown,” Hogsett said during the Aug. 12 meeting, “while at the same time reserving our budget dollars for neighborhood improvements.”
Hogsett, through a spokesperson, declined to comment for this article and referred to his August comments.
Mirror Indy deputy managing editor Ryan Martin is available at 317-500-4897 or ryan.martin@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X, LinkedIn and Instagram.
Contact IndyStar government and politics editor Kaitlin Lange at kaitlin.lange@indystar.com or follow her on X @Kaitlin_Lange.