INDIANAPOLIS — A new luxury apartment complex is coming to Broad Ripple, and developers will build it on top of an existing parking garage.
Marko On the Canal will add 69 luxury apartment units, ranging from one to three bedrooms, to the existing mixed-use parking garage at the busy corner of North College Avenue and Westfield Boulevard.
The project is raising eyebrows among some residents because the City of Indianapolis spent $6.35 million of the public’s money to help the developer build the Broad Ripple parking garage, which opened in 2013.
The $15 million structure opened to drivers in April 2013.
The city, under Mayor Greg Ballard, spent $6.35 million — money generated from the sale of the city’s parking meters to a private company — in an effort to alleviate parking problems in Broad Ripple.
Clarke Kahlo and Terry Sanderson, who both live in Meridian Kessler, say the developer Keystone should return some of the city’s investment into the garage.
“I think it was a failed project to begin with,” said Sanderson. “I think it would be nice if the city would pull back some of that money.”
The developer, Keystone (under the name 6280 LLC) filed a petition with the city in October 2024 asking to extend the garage’s existing underground foundation into a public alley.
“Clawback now,” said Clarke Kahlo, a Meridian Kessler resident. “There's leverage now the city has to have a financial reckoning with the developer and claw back some of those funds, or all of those funds before they give them the authority to intrude on the alley."
“I have yet to see the garage full of cars,” said Sanderson. “It’s a bad investment.”
The mixed-use garage has experienced tenant turnover.
Marco’s Pizza, Firehouse Subs, Massage Envy and Hopcat are among the tenants who came and left.
The space, once occupied by Hopcat, which left in January 2024, sits empty. Current tenants include Le Spa, Salon Lofts, Mariam Coffee, Athletico Physical Therapy and Pure Barre Fitness.
In 2013, WRTV Investigates Kara Kenney counted cars day and night and found the structure was 6% full, on average.
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At peak times, around 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, the garage was 20% full, on average.
WRTV Investigates stopped by the parking garage on a weekday afternoon in March 2025 and found the garage about 12% full and an Enterprise Rent-A-Car location operating on the garage’s top level.
Luke Stader lives near Broad Ripple and visits often for food and drinks with friends.
“The ROI (Return on Investment) is not there for the city, if we are being honest,” said Stader. “It’s not really used and Broad Ripple as a whole is not a great community now so there’s not a lot of draw to come here."
Stader said COVID-19 and shootings, like the deadly incident in 2024, have impacted the number of people visiting Broad Ripple.
Because millions of public dollars went into the Broad Ripple parking garage, WRTV Investigates wanted to know how Marko on the Canal will impact public parking in the garage.
The developer Keystone declined to provide someone for an on-camera interview, but via email a Keystone spokesperson told us they will be adding 16 new parking spaces, bringing the total to 365 spaces.
The public will share parking spots with the apartment residents, a Keystone spokesperson said in an email.
“The garage will remain open to the public and will be used by both apartment residents and the public in keeping with its original design for use in a mixed-use development,” a Keystone spokesperson said in an email. “As it has been since the project opened more than a decade ago, all spots will be available on a first-come, first-served basis and capacity will vary with time of day and day of the week.”
As for Clarke Kahlo and Terry Sanderson’s request for a refund on the city’s $6.35 million investment, we checked with the city’s Department of Metropolitan Development.
“Any potential discussions on claw-backs with this development would depend on the nature of the City’s contract with Keystone, which were negotiated under a prior administration,” said Lucas Gonzalez, Chief Communications Officer at the Department of Metropolitan Development. “The $6.35 million the City contributed to the project was upfront payment from a parking meter privatization deal. The project was not paid for using taxpayer dollars.”
WRTV Investigates submitted a records request for the garage’s original contract under Mayor Ballard, and we are still waiting for that record.
WRTV Investigates also asked Keystone about a potential clawback of the city’s funds, and the developer said they consider the garage a successful project.
“We met the neighborhood parking needs with a much-needed public amenity supported by the City and the neighborhood,” a Keystone spokesperson said in an email to WRTV. “Broad Ripple neighborhood leadership requested the garage be designed to relieve neighborhood parking pressure during evenings, serve on-site mixed-use development, and provide capacity for future growth in Broad Ripple. We are confident the garage has sufficient capacity to continue serving all three of these original purposes as it has for more than a decade.”
Construction is expected to begin this summer on Marko on the Canal.
“If apartments revitalize the area over here, I think that’s a positive,” said Stader.
The city approved the project in 2021, but the city’s Plat Committee is expected to hear the petition for extending the foundation into the alley on April 9, 2025.
“Originally, the project was to be a new mixed-use development with apartments and a dedicated space for Purdue Polytechnic High School’s North Campus,” said a Keystone spokesperson “Before we started construction, it became clear their student demand for enrollment was going to outgrow the space before it was constructed. With this change, the project needed to be redesigned. We are being told that design will be completed in the next 60 days then we will go for state and city building permits and hope to start construction in the summer.”
WRTV Investigates also contacted City County Councilor John Barth, who represents Broad Ripple, and he provided the following statement:
"The needs of Broad Ripple Village continue to evolve, and housing remains a key priority. The new Marco on the Canal project, strategically located in front on the Red Line, adds to the neighborhood’s mixed-use development and increases housing density—allowing more people to call Broad Ripple home.
Expanding housing options is essential to sustaining our local businesses and ensuring long-term investment in our neighborhoods. More residents mean greater support for the vibrant businesses that make Broad Ripple unique.
I am grateful to Keystone for its commitment to meeting the needs of the neighborhood and for continuing to invest in our city's future."
Denison Parking took over parking operations at the garage in 2022. It was previously managed by Newpoint Parking.
According to their website, here are their current rates:
- Daily Rates:
- 0-1 hour: $2
- 1-3 hours: $6
- 3-12 hours: $7
- 12+ hours: $9
- Event Rates: As posted, $5 – $10
- Monthly Parking Rate: $112
