Community Amenities
Housing
800 new mixed-income, multi-family housing units, including home ownership opportunities for low and middle income residents.
Cradle to College Education
The revitalization will provide a safer, more stable environment for the two existing charter schools, the Challenge Foundation Academy and the Charles A. Tindley Accelerated School, as well as our pre-school and Excel Center programs. Together, they form the nucleus of our project and offer a pre-school to adult continuum that provides high quality educational choices for families in the area and for the future leaders of our community.
Jobs & Job Training
It is estimated that there will be hundreds of new construction-related jobs resulting from the revitalization initiative and hundreds more permanent jobs after the project is completed.
Health and Wellness Center
The plan includes a 70,000 sq. ft. health and wellness center that will be the home for health, human and social service providers and recreational facilities.
Health Care
Access to vital health education and related health services will be provided using a medical home and population-based model of care to influence residents’ health.
A Safer Neighborhood
Revitalizing the Meadows will make the neighborhood and the surrounding area safer. Across the country and in Indianapolis, experience has shown that mixed-income housing, when it replaces 100% low income housing, produces significant reductions in crime.
Commercial Needs
As the closest grocery store is over 3.2 miles away, the plan includes a retail area and the addition of a large neighborhood grocery and hard goods store that will bring fresh foods to the neighborhood.
Green Space
The initiative includes a five-acre active-use park and many more acres of preserved green space for smaller parks, community gardens, and trails for walking and biking. The plan is designed to retain existing wooded areas, hills, valleys and mature trees to create a natural drainage system or ‘green infrastructure’.
LEED® Certification, Green Building & Utility Cost Savings
This revitalization could become one of the first mixed-income neighborhoods in the country to obtain LEED for Neighborhood Development™ certification indicating that the development meets accepted high levels of environmentally responsible, sustainable development. It will capitalize on constructing ‘green’ homes and buildings that are energy efficient and minimize the impact on the environment while providing benefits to the community and its residents, such as reduced energy and savings on monthly energy bills. The LEED green building certification program is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of green buildings.
Transit & Connectivity
There are several opportunities to capitalize on existing and planned transit routes, both bus and rail, that run through or near the Avondale Meadows area to reintegrate the area into the surrounding community. It is anticipated that Avondale Meadows will be connected to the Fall Creek Greenway for walking and bicycling.