Noblesville Main Street presented the 2024 Downtown Summit Aug. 16. The summit featured a panel of Noblesville officials who discussed how new initiatives, programs and developments will impact the city’s future.
The panel consisted of Noblesville Mayor Chris Jensen; Noblesville Community Engagement Manager Aaron Head; Hamilton County Commissioner Mark Heirbrandt; Noblesville Common Councilmember Aaron Smith; Visit Hamilton County Director of Community Engagement Sarah Buckner; Noblesville Creates Executive Director Ailithir McGill; Noblesville Chamber of Commerce CEO/President Bob Dubois; and Noblesville Main Street Executive Director Kate Baker.
Kurt Meyer, a Realtor for F.C. Tucker Co., moderated the event.
“We decided to make this year a focus on the future,” Meyer said. “There’s so much happening in Hamilton County, and Noblesville, specifically. We wanted to focus on what the next year, the next two years and further out are going to bring.”
New businesses
Some attendees announced plans to open new businesses, including Lisa Wampler, her husband Chris Wampler, her sister Sharon Beard and her sister’s husband Chris Beard. They announced they will open a restaurant and bar at 841 Conner St. by the end of the year.
“Our restaurant is going to be called Bar Ellis, which, actually, L and S stands for little sis for two sisters doing it together,” Wampler said. “We will do classic entrees, appetizers, all-American cuisine and delicious desserts. We (will also) have some specialty vegan and vegetarian items which we felt were lacking a little bit in this area.”
Wampler said the restaurant and bar, which will have a rooftop patio, will focus on dinner hours. Live comedy shows and entertainment are part of the plans to take advantage of the new Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area.
Another new business announced at the event is Chapter Book Lounge, a bookstore and bar that Brooke Heffernan and Jen Todderud will own.
“We’ll have programming, community-led book clubs, reading retreats and theme nights,” Todderud said. “We should be open by the end of September.”
Infrastructure
Reimagine Pleasant Street is a multiyear initiative designed to improve east-west connectivity and accessibility for the city. Jensen said Phase 1, which started in 2020, will be completed next month.
“We are going to do a party on Pleasant, which is going to be an open party for all of you, all the neighbors and the (entire) community,” Jensen said. “On Sept. 26, there will be a few vendors and live music and a chance to see the beautiful artwork in the murals because it’s not just a road; it is genuinely a corridor with trails and artwork on it. Then we will open that road from River Road to Eighth Street.”
Heirbrandt discussed plans for expanding the Government and Judicial Center and said options are still being explored.
“I think we have five magistrates and seven judges currently in place, and they are saying that we’re going to need five to seven more judges because we have the highest caseload in the entire state for judges right now,” Heirbrandt said.
Arts District
McGill touched on the future of the Noblesville Cultural Arts District in downtown Noblesville.
“We have a state-designated cultural district, and there are only 12 in the state,” McGill said. “We all know how charming our downtown is, and we want to not only preserve and enhance that but also celebrate it with everybody.”
The plan for the arts district includes strengthening the partnership between Noblesville Creates and the Hamilton County Artist Association and reviving past events, such as the singer-songwriter series, which celebrates local singer-songwriters who make original work.
McGill said there will also be an Arts Crawl from noon to 5 p.m. Oct. 12 through the cultural district.
“This first pilot event is going to give us lots of data and lots of experience to grow and make sure that all of our downtown events leverage everything we learned from this so that we can send people from place to place, and also start highlighting and getting folks excited about new businesses and getting new ideas about what we need in our downtown,” McGill said.
Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area
Head discussed the recently approved Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area, or DORA, an area where patrons 21 and older can purchase alcoholic beverages in marked containers from participating establishments and carry them within the district.
“We have 15 participating restaurants downtown,” Head said. “We look at (the DORA) as an economic development tool and it’s a great tool for tourism efforts as well. (With) my job being so focused on assisting merchants, we continue to do things that allow (businesses) to have more customers come to (their) doors.”
Jensen expects the DORA to be a boost for the city.
“It’s done to promote small businesses. This has been done in many states across the country. We’ve done it in conjunction with Hamilton County Tourism,” he said. “There were some misconceptions out there early on of what DORA is. This is done as a way to promote economic business, and do it in a very safe, controlled way.”
Head said the city wants to activate the DORA in early September with a soft opening.
State of the City
Dubois announced that the Noblesville Chamber of Commerce will present the State of the City address from 2 to 4 p.m. Sept. 17, during which the public can hear more about the improvements and changes taking place throughout Noblesville.
“We’re doing something unique with the State of the City where for one time only the mayor is going to be live on stage at Ruoff (Music Center in Noblesville),” Dubois said. “It’s (the community’s) chance to see behind the scenes at Ruoff and hear cool things (happening) in the city. It is going to be a cultural immersion experience as well.”
For more about the State of the City event, visit business.noblesvillechamber.com/events/details/state-of-the-city-2024-4816.
