An Outdoor Room Beside the Convention Center
Indianapolis is turning the west block of Georgia Street into a park. The block runs from South Capitol Avenue to South Illinois Street in the Wholesale District. Merritt Chase, the design firm, dates the start of construction to February 2025.
Visit Indy's new-developments page lists the west block opening as October 2026. The same page lists the Signia by Hilton Indianapolis and the Indiana Convention Center expansion at December 2026. Visit Indy's construction page carries a July 2026 update date and schedules the full three-block redevelopment by fall 2026. All three dates land before the 2027 group season.
What the Space Carries for a Programme
Merritt Chase describes the first phase in its February 2025 release. The street becomes a park with flexible plaza spaces, a monumental canopy structure and new tree planting.
Visit Indy puts the vision in planner terms on the new-developments page. The project is "a public outdoor space that can be easily activated by convention and meeting planners to extend the footprint of their events to include outdoor space".
The west block fronts the convention centre and the new Signia. Work on the remaining two blocks begins in the near future, per the same page.
Downtown Indy publishes the corridor's record. Its Georgia Street page dates the complete redesign to 2010 and lists pedestrian-friendly sidewalks, a boardwalk and flush streets. The corridor carried public space programming for Super Bowl XLVI in 2012. It supported NBA All-Star 2024 with public art, DJs, performers and ice sculptures. The page records the three blocks as a Downtown asset that links the Indiana Convention Center, Gainbridge Fieldhouse and Lucas Oil Stadium.
The construction page records the current street state. Georgia Street between Capitol Avenue and Illinois Street is closed to vehicular and pedestrian traffic during the work.
The Complex It Adjoins
The convention centre sits at the east end of the corridor, at 100 South Capitol Avenue. Its published figures record the connected network. Pedestrian skywalks connect 4,700 of downtown's 7,100 hotel rooms to the Indiana Convention Center and Lucas Oil Stadium. More than 200 downtown restaurants sit within walking distance, and the airport sits 15 minutes from the building.
The Signia and the expansion add 803 rooms and 90,000 square feet of meeting space in December 2026, per the convention centre's expansion page. The expansion carries 143,500 square feet of centre space and a 50,000-square-foot ballroom. The same page states the expansion makes two simultaneous citywide conventions possible.
Visit Indy counts the connected package two ways on its own pages. The connected-hotels page reads 12 hotels and 5,200 rooms connected. The new-developments page reads 13 properties and 5,500 hotel rooms under one roof once the Signia and the expansion open. Ask Visit Indy for the current figure before you quote one.
Terms to Request Before a 2027 Contract
Neither Visit Indy's project pages nor Downtown Indy's corridor page carries capacity, rate or permit terms for the space. Neither page states the number of guests the plaza, canopy or lawn holds, the load-in windows, the insurance requirement or the fee schedule.
Downtown Indy publishes a general inquiry form for groups that want to host an event on Georgia Street. Merritt Chase names the project partners in its release: the City of Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development and Department of Public Works, the Capital Improvement Board and the Indiana Convention Center, Downtown Indy, and Visit Indy.
Five items belong on the request list. They are the confirmed opening date for the west block, the event capacity and permitted footprints for each space, the load zone and coach staging allocation, the pedestrian management plan for event days, and the calendar of dates already held for 2027.