Debate over development in Stringtown was rekindled during a heated public hearing for a planned apartment project in the westside neighborhood.
One neighborhood association and some residents are opposed to the 242-unit building. Instead, they want to see more single-family homes in the historic working-class neighborhood.
“We are against development that harms our neighborhood,” Jessy Baum, a founder of Stringtown Now, said at a public hearing April 23.
But the subsidized housing project has support from Kristin Jones, the city-county councilor who represents the area, and a rival neighborhood association — even though some claim that group’s president doesn’t live in Stringtown.
The proposed apartments would be reserved for people making between 50% and 70% of the area median income. For a family of three, 50% of the area median income is about $50,000.
“I feel like it is a good project,” Jones said at the hearing. “It is going to welcome new neighbors into Stringtown.”
The $70 million project would require demolishing vacant homes in the 3-acre area. Some Stringtown residents last year fought plans to tear the homes down as part of a broader push against real estate investors.
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The hearing examiner, Judy Weerts Hall, recommended approving requests from the developer, Fishers-based Annex Group, to make the apartment building taller than what current zoning rules allow in the neighborhood.
The building would be four stories high on the side closest to North White River Parkway Drive West and three stories high on the other side, which is closer to houses
Weerts Hall also recommended approving plans to widen two roads — Astor and Saulcy streets — to handle more traffic.
The Metropolitan Development Commission has final say on the requests.
Baum told Mirror Indy that Stringtown Now plans to file an appeal of the hearing examiner’s decision, which would lead to another public hearing in front of the development commission.
The project, called Union at Astor, would also need approval from a regional center hearing examiner, who would look more closely at the building’s design.
The developer applied for funding through the state’s low-income housing tax credit program and plans to apply for a subsidy from the city. The company plans to start construction in spring 2027.
‘There is some neighborhood drama here’
In the background of talks about an apartment building is a heated debate: Who speaks for Stringtown?
Annex Group committed to give the Stringtown Neighborhood Association $10,000 in the first year, followed by $5,000 per year, for neighborhood improvement as part of the project.
But some residents insist that Frank Staples, the neighborhood association’s president, doesn’t live in the neighborhood. That’s part of the reason Stringtown Now formed last year.
“It’s a clear case of outsiders telling us what we need and what the problem is with our neighborhood,” Karla Romero, Baum’s husband and a Stringtown Now founder, said at the hearing.
Staples, who wasn’t at the hearing, has told Mirror Indy he does live in Stringtown. He is registered to vote at an address in Stringtown, but said last year that he’s married and sometimes stays with his wife outside of the city.
But minutes from a meeting in Plainfield in 2024 quote Staples as saying, “I moved from Indianapolis out to Morgan County.”
“I don’t remember that,” he told Mirror Indy. “But I might have said that.”
Some people at the public hearing also claimed that Staples told them the hearing had been canceled. Staples denied saying that.
“I never told nobody that it was canceled,” he said.
Jones, the city-county councilor, defended Staples.
“Every single time I talk to Frank he’s in Stringtown serving the community,” she told Mirror Indy.
But Jones had detractors of her own at the hearing.
One resident, Bruce Keitell, criticized her for supporting the apartment project.
“She’s out of touch with her constituents,” Keitell said. “She has no idea what Stringtown wants.”
Jones refuted the sentiment, saying she works “very hard” to make sure she’s in touch with what Stringtown residents want.
Then, Jones addressed the obvious.
“Yes,” she said, “there is some neighborhood drama here.”
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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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