Westsiders are about to get a new community center near the former Lafayette Square Mall.
The International District Community Center will open Aug. 12 at 3540 Commercial Drive. Neighborhood advocates and city leaders were at the center July 30 for a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The community center is another addition to the International Marketplace district that encompasses the area around West 38th Street and North Lafayette Road. The region is home to more than 100 languages.
“Hopefully this will bring everybody together,” said Sherry Taylor, the soon-to-be president of the Eagledale Neighborhood Association.
The community center will be open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.
[Video: See inside the newly renovated Krannert Family and Aquatic Center on the west side]
Programs will focus on workforce development, health and wellness, youth, safety and financial literacy. The first program on the schedule will be hosted by Indy Black Chamber of Commerce for aspiring entrepreneurs who want help developing their business ideas.
Abby Harlan, the center’s executive director, said her goal is for the space to not just be another building in the community but a central hub where residents can come together and strengthen their neighborhood.
The community center also represents one part of a larger redevelopment vision for the area surrounding the former mall site.
Indianapolis-based development firm Sojos Capital has a grand plan that includes multifamily housing, office space, retail, hotels, a medical campus and a K-12 school. In the end, the 115-acre area essentially would become its own neighborhood.
Fabio De La Cruz, who is the principal of Sojos Capital, said in January that he wouldn’t be surprised to see the final price tag approach $1 billion.
Sojos Capital also is the developer for the community center, and De Le Cruz said it’s symbolic that the center is one of the first pieces of the development to open.
“This should be a place of people that care about everybody else,” he said.
Mayor Joe Hogsett said it’s a good thing when people with differences — cultural, geographical, language — can share a common space.
“That’s what this community center will do,” he said.
For Taylor and the Eagledale Neighborhood Association, the building also has one very practical use.
For years, the association has wanted a mailbox.
Now, just inside the entrance to the community center, they have one.
Mirror Indy reporter Tyler Fenwick covers economics. Contact him at 317-766-1406 or tyler.fenwick@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @ty_fenwick.
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