The Indianapolis Housing Agency is selling seven properties to a development company.
The following properties will be sold to Seattle-based Vitus Development LLC: Laurelwood Apartments, Rowney Terrace, Twin Hills, Blackburn Terrace, Beechwood Gardens, Hawthorne Place and 16 Park.
The housing agency’s board approved the sale during a meeting Tuesday, Jan. 13.
IHA CEO Yvonda Bean said Vitus will turn the properties into something “we can all be proud of.”
“We believe that people should have quality housing,” Bean said, “and we know that through this partnership, they’ll receive quality housing.”
Vitus does not list contact information on its website. The company didn’t respond to Mirror Indy’s request for comment sent through a questionnaire form.
IHA has been working for several months to sell the apartment complexes as part of a broad turnaround plan announced last year for the struggling agency.
IHA wanted $33 million for all seven properties, but Bean did not say what the final sale price is. Now that the board has approved selling the properties, Bean said the sale will be final “really soon.”
What does this mean for residents?
As part of the sale, IHA will still own the land under the buildings and lease it to Vitus. Bean said that allows the housing agency to make sure the apartments remain affordable.
But affordability isn’t the only thing residents have been worried about.
Many have told Mirror Indy that the housing agency doesn’t respond to them, and there often isn’t a property manager on site.
Zephyr Reed, a resident of Beechwood Gardens, said things have gotten so bad where she lives that she stopped trying to call maintenance.
“It does no good,” she told Mirror Indy after the sale announcement.
Reed, 72, said a family member had to fix her kitchen sink when it was clogged in December.
But, with a new owner on the way, is she hopeful things might get better?
“Nope.”
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Mirror Indy reporter Tyler Fenwick covers housing and labor. Contact him at 317-766-1406 or tyler.fenwick@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @ty_fenwick and Bluesky @tyfenwick.bsky.social.
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