The Building and the Number Behind It
Gershman Partners and Citimark expect to spend about $200 million converting the 20-story Gold Building at 151 Delaware Street in downtown Indianapolis into 354 apartments. IBJ published the figure on 7 May 2024. The same work carried a $120 million estimate when the developers announced the project, and the $200 million includes renovations to the Ohio Street parking garage next door.
The scope covers a complete replacement of the building's mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, a facade change to a subdued silver tone with new window paneling, and about 9,000 square feet of street-level retail. The unit mix runs from studios to three-bedrooms. A portion of the units is reserved for lower-income individuals and families, which the city requires for the project to receive tax-increment financing.
Megan Vukusich, director of the Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development, told IBJ that interest rates had risen and the financing had changed on the project. The city had already earmarked $18.8 million in tax-increment financing for the first and second phases, and IBJ reported that the developers expect a second allocation because costs rose.
What the Block Adds
The conversion replaces 400,000 square feet of office space with more than 350 apartments and nearly 8,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, on IBJ's 17 September 2025 reporting. The building adds no hotel rooms.
Day-use inventory comes from the hotel stock. The Indiana Convention Center counts 7,100 hotel rooms in downtown Indianapolis and 4,700 rooms connected to the center by skywalk on its own pages. Those 7,100 rooms are the pool an hourly or daytime seller lists from.
The Hotel Pipeline That Does Add Rooms
Bradford Allen's Indianapolis market read of 19 March 2026 carries the counts that move hotel supply. The market recorded 8.1 million room nights of demand in the 12 months to mid-2025, more than 580,000 above its pre-COVID peak, on CoStar data. The construction pipeline at mid-year held more than 1,500 rooms, with 3,402 rooms in final planning and 3,220 proposed.
Visit Indy's delivery list for 2026 names two adaptive reuse hotels: a 167-key Kimpton in the historic Odd Fellows Building and a 116-room Motto in the King Cole Building. A 143,500-square-foot expansion of the Indiana Convention Center sits alongside a Signia by Hilton.
The Occupancy a Day-Use Seller Works From
Downtown Indy Alliance reported 64.7 percent occupancy for downtown Indianapolis against a U.S. average of 62.4 percent, revenue per available room of $135.20 and an average daily rate of $209.11. RevPAR rose 13 percent year over year and rate rose 12 percent. Bradford Allen published the snapshot on 19 March 2026, and it cites CoStar and STR data.
On 7,100 rooms, a 64.7 percent occupancy leaves about 2,500 rooms unsold on an average night.
The Clock on This Building
Gershman and Citimark told IBJ in September 2025 that construction would start in the first quarter of 2026 and finish by mid-2028. The Metropolitan Development Commission approved an $18 million bridge loan on 17 September 2025, voting 8-0. The agreement requires the developers to close their construction loan within nine months of receiving the bridge loan and repaying the original bank.
What the Record Leaves Open
No publisher carries a conversion cost index for downtown Indianapolis, a lease-up schedule for this block or an achieved rent. The two published prices for this conversion are the $120 million estimate and the $200 million figure, both from IBJ.
The Gold Building adds apartments and retail. The rooms a day-use operator can list in Indianapolis come from the 7,100 downtown rooms already standing and from the pipeline behind them.