Sheridan
Why It Will Work
As Hamilton County development spreads north from Carmel, this historic burg stands a good chance of being next in line. Located 30 miles north of downtown Indianapolis, Sheridan offers a quaint, old-timey business district and tons of cornfields ripe for subdivisions. The old Monon right-of-way, set to become part of the Monon Trail, passes right through town.
Why It Won’t
Commuters to downtown Indy face a 50-minute one-way drive—if the traffic gods are smiling. And they might not smile much, given local geography. While both Carmel and Fishers straddle U.S. 31, Sheridan doesn’t. It is, to put it diplomatically, “a ways off the main road.”
Speedway
Why It Will Work
“Old Speedway,” the portion adjoining the track, is packed with cute bungalows and quaint, pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods clustered around a recently revitalized town center. Home prices are more than reasonable (averaging $106,000, about $30,000 below the Indiana norm), and commuters can reach downtown faster than you can say, “Gentlemen, start your engines.”
Why It Won’t
Old Speedway is cool, but the rest of it ranges from slightly seedy to postapocalyptic. Go less than a mile in any direction from your cute bungalow and you’ll find factories, vacant lots, liquor stores, and strip clubs. This is still racing country, after all.
Market East
Why It Will Work
This newly minted district encompasses the City Market, the new Downtown Transit Center, a big part of the Cultural Trail, the incoming Market Tower, and Artistry, a high-end development with five stories of apartments. If you want to live downtown, it doesn’t get any downtown-ier than this.
Why It Won’t
The area also includes some stuff its boosters rarely mention, such as the City-County Building, the Marion County Jail, and roughly half a million bail-bond offices. Of course, much of that unpleasantness will go away if the city gets the new Criminal Justice Center it wants.
Westfield
Why It Will Work
Actually, it’s already working. The town has grown exponentially, from about 10,000 inhabitants in 2000 to north of 30,000 today. Most of the media attention has focused on the Grand Park sports complex, but there’s a Carmel-style downtown renovation called Grand Junction Parks and Plaza in the works, and Westfield plans to expand the Monon Trail and other greenways.
Why It Won’t
While Westfield offers a middle-class-friendly median home price of $180,000, it still has the reputation of being the place you go when you can’t afford Carmel. The area will need those planned amenities to realize any future growth in home prices. As it is, few Realtors we consulted could muster much enthusiasm about the area.
