The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • A12

12A SUNDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2017 1 INDYSTAR Derrick Team Does your house havemore room than yours? Download app or visit callcarpenter.com. We have what looking for! Amazon set an Oct. 19 deadline for pro- posals and is expected to make a decision within a year. If long-shot bid is going to succeed, the state will have to show Amazon a site that meets all of its re- quirements and stands out among propos- als from cities such as Denver, Boston, Chicago and Washington, D.C. Most real estate experts interviewed by IndyStar agree on what they think is the most attractive chunk of land for a company such as Amazon: the former General Motors stamping plant site near Downtown Indianapolis.

Why the GM site works Amazon is seeking a shovel-ready, 100- acre site that is near both a downtown set- ting and an airport in a market with at least 1 million people. The 103-acre GM stamping plant site fits that description better than any other single piece of prop- erty in metropolitan Indianapolis, said Chris Carmen, CEO of Carmen Commer- cial Real Estate Services, which helps companies find office space. about Carmen said. does a company like Amazon that would like to locate in a progressive, growing, vi- brant business and cultural community where do you go to find 100 acres well enough located that you actually could leverage those amenities in that community? tough to do in a developed metro area without spending years and years trying to assemble the The timing be much better. search comes four months after Ambrose Property Group reached a deal to acquire the GM stamping plant site, which sits on the White River, south of Washington Street and the Indianapolis Zoo.

The former factory was demolished in 2013, setting the stage for redevelop- ment. logical place everyone is going to say is the GM stamping Downtown Indy President Sherry Seiwert said. Ambrose expects to close on the prop- erty next year. The Indianapolis develop- er already has a broad vision for the site including plans for offices, apartments, retail and a hotel but Ambrose could tai- lor its development to specifica- tions. Ambrose President Aasif Bade did not respond to a request for comment.

But site owner RACER Trust, which is in the proc- ess of completing a sale to Ambrose, sug- gested Ambrose is interested in attracting the Amazon headquarters. is the very type of opportunity our buyer is seeking, and our property and the city will be competing to secure this RACER Trust spokesman Bill Callen said in an email. Other possibilities Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett is not rallying around any particular location, but alluded to the GM stamping plant site during a Sept. 11 news conference with Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness. have, I think, several very compet- itive sites throughout Hog- sett said.

need look no further than the river and some properties over there, as well as look to the east side of the Mar- ket Street Hogsett also said properties near the airport might be attractive to Amazon. Thomas Cook, the chief of staff, said Central combined pitch to Amazon which also includes the Indy Chamber and area business leaders will not narrow the options to one loca- tion. would argue that what market- ing is every site in Central Cook said. I think, part of the due dili- gence of helping the company understand our region is identifying for them specific sites that probably fit better than Central Indiana has plenty of attractive properties aside from the former GM stamping plant site. But most, if not all of them, either fall short of land re- quirements or are not quite ready to be de- veloped.

Consider 16 Tech, an early-stage 60- acre development along Indiana Avenue between 10th and 16th streets. The devel- opment is close to Downtown, bordered on three sides by water and adjacent to Indi- ana University-Purdue University Indian- apolis. Bob Coy, the CEO of 16 Tech, said Ama- zon would fit well with his vision for the development, which is geared toward technology, advanced manufacturing and life sciences companies. Construction is set to begin soon on the first building, a headquarters for the Indiana Biosciences Research Institute. think it has a lot of the attributes that would be attractive to Coy said.

respect to site readiness, we do have infrastructure funding to prepare the site for construction. I think for all of those reasons, 16 Tech would be a logical part of the The problem for 16 Tech is that it falls about 40 acres short of the land Amazon is looking for. Amazon said it will consider noncontiguous sites for the HQ2 campus, but piecing together multiple properties would increase the complexity of the pro- ject. Dennis Dye, a principal for TWG De- velopment, said he thinks 16 Tech has po- tential, despite its land limitations, be- cause of other properties that are avail- able around IUPUI. gotten a little he said.

can assemble a lot of land Yet, Dye named 16 Tech as a possibility only after mentioning the GM stamping plant site. Suburban possibilities Other prospective sites near Down- town Indianapolis are even more compli- cated than 16 Tech. As Indianapolis proceeds toward build- ing a new criminal justice center at the former Citizens Energy coke site, jail buildings on the east side of Downtown could become ripe for redevelopment. But those properties be available for years, making it unlikely that Amazon would consider them. Surface parking lots could be devel- oped, but there are not enough to hit Ama- 100-acre threshold.

Areas outside Downtown, such as Indi- anapolis International Airport, would take Amazon further away from services such as public transportation, which is a factor in request for proposals. Outside of Indianapolis, the Boone County Economic Development Corp. says it has identified five sites, each with more than 100 acres, for head- quarters. The county naming them. have numerous sites that fit some said Molly Whitehead, the chairwoman.

are coordinat- ing on a regional approach that will pre- sent them with as many options as possi- Boone County already has an Amazon warehouse in Whitestown. But the county has few other urban amenities to accom- modate tens of thousands of workers. If Amazon were to choose a suburban location for HQ2, Hamilton County is a stronger candidate, Carmen said. Amazon could assemble 100 acres of land in northern Hamilton County, start- ing near where Ind. 38 and U.S.

31 inter- sect and heading north in Westfield, Car- men said. There also is land along I-69 that could be assembled for a large campus, he said. going to have to be very near those interstate corridors to provide access to the campus, as well as for those employ- ees to be able to reach the communities going to be living and working Carmen said. has a The scale of hiring target presents its own problem perhaps a greater one than finding a campus loca- tion. Thomas Stringer, a site-selection man- ager at New York professional services firm BDO, said plan to generate 50,000 jobs over 10 to 15 years is unprece- dented.

has a site ready for said Stringer, who does not repre- sent Amazon. what the RFP outlines is true and I know if it is gen- erationally transformative. not go- ing to have a site or a building on hand ready to accommodate Based on aggressive job- growth plan, Stringer said, a successful pitch to Amazon will have to rely on evi- dence of talent. may have a spot to build an office tower or building or campus, and a lot of places have that Phoenix, Nashville, even sites in New York City have that but you have the String- er said. need a population base, a uni- versity ecosystem and a young population migration to justify that be able to satisfy that uncertain whether modest popula- tion growth, combined with an influx of technology jobs, will be enough for Indian- apolis to compete against larger cities that are considered frontrunners for next headquarters.

But Indianapolis and state officials can be confident they have one thing in their favor: a Downtown shovel-ready piece of real estate that offers everything Amazon needs, except for the workforce. reason the stamping plant is such a remarkable asset for the city is because the location is Carmen said. in the city. got essentially a major university campus, got a downtown, all the services and housing being developed there. just a really unique situation that so well fits this re- IndyStar reporter John Tuohy contributed to this story.

Call IndyStar reporter James Briggs at (317) 444-6307. Follow him on Twitter: search comes four months after Ambrose Property Group reached a deal to acquire the GM stamping plant site. PHOTOS BY MYKAL Experts say the property at 340 S. White River Parkway West Drive meets the requirements that Amazon is seeking in a new headquarters. The RACER Trust, selling the property, was created in 2011 by the U.S.

Bankruptcy Court. Amazon Continued from 1A.