Neighborhoods
King Park is a collection of diverse neighborhoods working together to make Indianapolis’s near north side a better place to live, work, play, and visit. Not that they’re not already pretty special: our neighborhoods have seen the area’s fastest growth in housing values over the last several years. King Park neighborhoods include:
Fall Creek Place
As recently as 2000, Fall Creek Place was known as “Dodge City” because of its crumbling homes and high crime rate. Today, Fall Creek Place is a model of urban renewal, not just in Indianapolis, but nationally: in 2001, HUD awarded Indianapolis the Department's first Homeownership Zone Award, a $4 million grant to stimulate other public and private contributions and give Fall Creek Place a welcome makeover.
The idea worked: the boarded-up homes and vacant lots have turned into more than 400 new homes and beautifully renovated older homes. Fall Creek Place is now a great neighborhood for families that want an urban lifestyle. And it’s growing: development of Fall Creek Place continues, providing even more opportunities for families and businesses.
Herron-Morton Place
At the beginning of the 20th century, Herron-Morton Place was one of Indianapolis’s most elegant neighborhoods, home to business leaders, artists, physicians, and politicians. Although many of the original homes were lost to fire and disuse over the years, many remain—and Herron-Morton is once again a thriving, prosperous historic neighborhood. In addition, many new homes have also been built showcasing some unique architecture that makes Herron-Morton Place a great blend of historic and modern.
It’s also home to some of Indianapolis’s most treasured institutions. What was once the Herron School of Art has today become Herron High School, a charter school that attracts students from throughout the city. Footlite Musicals is also an arts destination located within the neighborhood. Started back in 1955, the theater continues to offer the best of Broadway. It presents seven productions a year with a new show on stage about every six weeks.
Old Northside
Home to business leaders, prominent Hoosiers and one President of the United States—Benjamin Harrison—the Old Northside is a treasure-trove of Victorian architecture and historical interest. The Benjamin Harrison Home and historic Morris-Butler House are open to the public—and the tree-lined boulevards and graceful mansions make pedestrians feel they’ve walked back in time.
But the Old Northside is part of modern Indianapolis, as well. Although many of the original homes had been demolished by the mid-1970s, the Old Northside is once again one of the city’s most fashionable and sought-after addresses.
Fall Creek Proper
Fall Creek Proper is a compact neighborhood that preceded the development of Fall Creek Place and is located between 25th Street on the south, Fall Creek Parkway on the north, Delaware Street on the west, and Central Avenue on the east. Fall Creek Proper homes were newly built with similar historic qualities of Fall Creek Place HOA homes. There are actually several new homes within the boundaries of Fall Creek Proper that are also members of the Fall Creek Place HOA. Fall Creek Proper also maintains its own active neighborhood association.
Unity Park
Unity Park is made up of 30 duplex homes (60 total homes) located along Alabama Street, New Jersey Street, and Central Avenue. Constructed in the mid 1990s, Unity Park homes replaced the Hometowne public housing complex and were jointly developed by the Hometowne (now Unity Park) Residents Council, King Park Area Development Corporation, and the Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership (INHP). The homes were financed with low-income housing tax credits through the IRS and as a project-based Section 8 development, where the Department of Housing and Urban Development subsidizes approximately 70% of the rental rates. The homes are managed by Van Rooy Properties.
Unity Park was envisioned as a homeownership venture, whereby tenants would receive homeownership counseling and eventually convert rent payments to down payments to buy the home. While this has not happened to date, the transition to homeownership is still expected to occur. The Unity Park project has approximately fifteen years left on the tax-credit imposed requirement that they remain affordable for low-income families.
Bruce's Place Neighborhood Association
The Bruce's Place Neighborhood Association, named after the original subdivision plat for much of the area, is a neighborhood organization with boundaries of 21st Street on the South, Fall Creek on the north, Broadway Street on the east, and Pennsylvania Street on the west. Bruce's Place was formed in the mid-1990s to give a voice to residents, and today it still functions primarily as a representative for existing homeowners.
Kennedy King
Kennedy King Neighborhood Association is located to the east of Dr. Martin Luther King Park, with boundaries of College Avenue on the west, 22nd Street on the north, the Monon Trail on the east, and 16th Street on the south. Kennedy King is also the home of the Martindale on the Monon redevelopment.
Reagan Park
Reagan Park is a neighborhood on the Eastern edge of King Park with boundaries of College Avenue on the west, 25th Street on the north, the Monon Trail on the east, and 22nd Street on the south.
Friends & Neighbors Block Club
Friends and Neighbors Block Club is a neighborhood in the northeast corner of King Park, with boundaries of College Avenue on the west, 30th Street on the north, the Monon Trail on the east, and 25th Street on the south.
Citizens Neighborhood Coalition
The Citizens Neighborhood Coalition is an umbrella organization representing most neighborhood organizations within its boundaries of 10th Street on the south, 30th Street on the north, Pennsylvania Street on the west, and the Monon Trail on the east.