The Fishers City Council approved an economic development agreement with Strongbox Commercial for the former Marsh site at 96th Street and Lantern Road.
Originally, Strongbox Commercial brought forth an agreement to redevelop the site, build an outlot and place a fitness user into the former Marsh building. For that project, the Fishers City Council waived impact and permitting fees and in exchange, Strongbox Commercial agreed to purchase license-plate readers for certain areas of 96th Street in conjunction with the Fishers Police Dept. However, after the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the fitness users considering the site decided they no longer wanted to pursue new projects.
“We started working with Strongbox on what could be the right fit for that space,” said Megan Baumgartner, economic development director for the City of Fishers. “It’s such an important corner for our city with all the work happening along 96th Street and the road work being done.”
Instead of a fitness user, Memory Ventures, a company offering services for users to digitalize out-of-date media, decided to utilize the space.
“(Memory Ventures CEO Anderson Schoenrock) has been leasing space throughout Fishers for the last few years, so started to talk to him about site, and he was definitely interested,” Baumgartner said.
As part of the new economic development agreement for Memory Ventures to occupy the Marsh site, the city council unanimously approved a 10-year vacant building tax abatement. Schoenrock plans to invest $1 million in renovations for the inside and outside of the building, redo the parking lot and add public art to the east or west side of the building. Memory Venture’s nearly 100 employees will move to the space once renovations are complete, and Schoenrock said there’s potential to reach up to 250 employees at the new space.
“We are excited as a business to be looking at this opportunity,” Schoenrock said. “I have driven by this building almost every day thinking something neat can happen. We are looking forward to renovating the building and returning it to a usable space, as most of you are aware not only has there been vandalism on the property, but even prior to that with Marsh trying to sustain their business, a lot of corners were cut. The building has been long overdue for a renovation and a rehabilitation.”
Several council members commended Schoenrock on the project.
“This is the best use (for this space) because this will have daytime employees and those employees will use existing restaurants and retail, so I think of all the options we have had, this is heading in a great direction,” council member David George said.
For more, visit fishers.in.us.
