Indianapolis Plans for Two New Hotels, $120 Million Convention Center Expansion

Indianapolis plans to add a 50,000-square-foot convention center ballroom, the largest in the state, and two new hotel towers.

The new hotels will connect 1,400 new rooms to the Indiana Convention Center, boosting the number of hotel rooms connected to the center from 4,700 to 6,100, and from 12 hotels to 14. The properties will be Hilton-brand hotels, though the specific brands haven’t been announced


“Adding a 50,000-square-foot ballroom and 1,400 more connected hotel rooms is a game-changer for hosting multiple citywide conventions at the same time and booking new groups that would not have previously considered Indy,” said Leonard Hoops, president & CEO of Visit Indy. “The project is also critical to keeping approximately $300 million in annual groups that call Indy home.”

Since 2010, Visit Indy has not been able to bid on more than 200 conventions and events interested in meeting in the city because of hotel room inventory and/or ballroom space requirements, said Hoops. This expansion will allow Visit Indy to re-engage these groups, which collectively could generate up to $1.1 billion in future economic impact for the region and state.


The project was green lighted after the Capital Improvement Board of Managers, a municipal corporation, unanimously approved the project on the site of downtown Indianapolis’ Pan Am Plaza, which was built for the Pan American Games hosted by the city in 1987. A number of meeting professionals recently experienced the area firsthand, as it was used during this year’s Meeting Professionals International’s World Education Congress for a luncheon featuring 21 food trucks.

The two new hotels, being developed by Kite Realty Group Trust, will include a 38-story tower with multiple levels of retail and a rooftop bar, offering the only high-rise view from the southwest side of downtown. A second hotel tower will anchor the opposite corner of the block, across from Union Station.

Indianapolis’ connected convention district has been strategically designed over the past 40 years to link hotels, restaurants, retail and attractions to the convention center and sports facilities including Lucas Oil Stadium, Bankers Life Fieldhouse and Victory Field via enclosed skywalks or pedestrian-friendly walkways like the Indy Cultural Trail and Indy Canal Walk.

The expansion plans are a result of two years of research including customer focus groups and surveys, as well as a convention center and hotel demand analysis commissioned by Visit Indy and a 10-month bid process.

The project timeline has not been finalized, but the city’s Capital Improvement Board of Managers is aiming to secure legislative approvals in 2019. Following the completion of that process, construction is expected to take about three years.

The Indiana Convention Center currently offers three ballrooms totaling about 61,000 square feet of function space, with the largest ballroom at 33,335 square feet. This $120 million expansion will be its sixth since the Indiana Convention Center opened in 1972.