Exhibit Columbus is partnering with the Central Indiana Community Foundation and Ambrose Property Group to establish a design competition to identify a centerpiece for the vacant, 103-acre former General Motors Stamping Plant site.
The project site, called Waterside, is southwest of downtown Indianapolis near the White River.
The Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc. announced the project Wednesday as one of nearly $49 million in grants for wide-ranging work under the initiative Strengthening Indianapolis Through Arts and Cultural Innovation. That initiative supports efforts to beautify public places, revitalize historic landmarks, and increase access to the arts.
The design competition is receiving $300,000 from Lilly, plus $50,000 donated by site owner Ambrose Property Group, to fund the competition, according to organizers.
Plans call for organizers to have a satellite architectural installation in Indianapolis highlighting the property and the design competition sometime during Exhibit Columbus 2019 in late summer and fall.
Through the competition, three designers will be selected to compete for the opportunity to build about $20 million worth of development in three key areas at that site, said Richard McCoy, one of the leaders of Exhibit Columbus, which highlights art, architecture and design.
One designer will then be picked to lead the development of those three distinct projects on the site, said McCoy, who also is director of the nonprofit Landmark Columbus that serves as the umbrella agency for Exhibit Columbus. Both are part of the Heritage Fund — the Community Foundation of Bartholomew County.
The Lilly grant promotes the chance for applicants “to add an entirely new neighborhood that is based on the idea that our built environment shapes our lives and our aspirations.”
That has been much of the heartbeat of Exhibit Columbus since it was announced in May 2016.
McCoy said the partnership between Columbus and Indianapolis makes strategic sense. The most recent Exhibit Columbus symposium in September opened with a day of panel discussions and events based at Newfields and the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
“Part of that was because we knew that Indianapolis already was paying attention to what Columbus and what we are doing,” McCoy said.
Columbus is more connected to Indianapolis than any other nearby regional city in the state, he said.
Close ties include Columbus-based Cummins Inc.’s distribution headquarters located in downtown Indianapolis. Plus, the Indianapolis-based Efroymson Family Fund-Central Indiana Community Foundation donated the $250,000 seed money in the fall of 2014 to later help launch Exhibit Columbus. Jeremy Efroymson, the fund’s vice president, is an advisory board member of Exhibit Columbus.
McCoy hailed the work alongside the Central Indiana Community Foundation as a strong, “mission-oriented match.”
“If you look at the mission of what they’re trying to do, it’s very similar to what we are talking about,” McCoy said. “We believe that art and architecture makes communities better — and that it attracts people to want to live there. So, for us, all this is really exciting, because it gives us, in a sense, another platform to talk about our mission, and why the traditions and values of Columbus are so internationally important.”
The teamwork with Ambrose Property Group also “really validates these values (of art and architecture) to enlightened developers as well,” McCoy said.
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Learn more by visiting exhibitcolumbus.org
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