Boxcar Development LLC broke ground on 7 January 2026 on the former CSX Building site at Pennsylvania and Georgia Streets in downtown Indianapolis. The ceremony ran at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Work on the site had already started.
The block carries two assets. A 4,000-capacity Live Nation music venue and the Ritz-Carlton Indianapolis, the city's first hotel under that flag.
Site history
The address is 230 S. Pennsylvania Street, across the street from Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The building that stood there was a long-vacant CSX structure.
The Indianapolis Business Journal dates site work, including demolition of the former CSX railroad building, to mid-2024. Sports Business Journal records the demolition of a long-vacant building in early 2025, site work from the fall, and a first concrete pour in late December.
Phil Bayt of Boxcar described the sequence at the groundbreaking. The team had taken the old building down, built infrastructure and finished site preparation. Crews were pouring concrete for foundations for an underground garage.
The block carried an earlier plan. The Indianapolis Business Journal reports the hotel was expected to bear the flag of Detroit-based Shinola, an upscale boutique hotel company, until the Simons moved to the Ritz-Carlton.
Two phases, two dates
The venue opens first. The live music theatre completes in fall 2027 on Live Nation's release, WISH-TV and the Indianapolis Business Journal. Sports Business Journal reports late 2027. WISH-TV reports the venue completing in fall 2026.
The hotel follows in early 2028 on Live Nation's release, WISH-TV and the Indianapolis Business Journal. Sports Business Journal reports the first quarter of 2028.
What the first phase delivers
The venue measures 80,000 square feet and holds 4,000 people. Live Nation leases and operates it, and the venue will employ more than 300 full-time staff at wages starting at $20 per hour.
Fixed seating runs below the 4,000 figure and varies by event, per the Indianapolis Business Journal. The venue includes premium seating areas and standing-room space.
Live Nation projects at least 75 live acts a year at the venue. The name is not public, and Doug Lefrak, a Live Nation regional vice president, told the Indianapolis Business Journal it would arrive within several months.
What the second phase delivers
The tower stretches 15 floors. Room counts run at 176 rooms on Live Nation's release, Visit Indy, Sage Hospitality, Sports Business Journal and WISH-TV, and 170 rooms on the Indianapolis Business Journal's 9 January story.
The suite programme holds 30 executive suites, two deluxe or hospitality suites and a Ritz-Carlton suite. Suites range from 400 to 1,500 square feet. Meeting and ballroom space measures 11,500 square feet.
Published amenities list a fitness center and spa, an outdoor terrace, an upscale restaurant, a lobby bar and restaurant space, and a private concierge lounge. A third-floor pedestrian bridge will connect the hotel to Gainbridge Fieldhouse, and a two-level underground parking garage sits below the building.
Sage Hospitality Group will operate the hotel. Sage runs the Ritz-Carlton in downtown Chicago and holds the sole third-party licensing agreement with Marriott Bonvoy for the Ritz-Carlton flag.
Ownership and money
Boxcar will own both the hotel and the venue on a 1.8-acre site just west of the arena. Project cost is $400 million on the Indianapolis Business Journal, against a combined investment above $350 million on Sports Business Journal. WISH-TV reports September approval by the Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission for a $300 million downtown project.
The city allocated $15.6 million through a single-site tax-increment financing district and a $25 million forgivable loan. The Indiana Economic Development Corp. committed up to $23 million in loans over three years.
The block around it
An 18,000-square-foot space sits between the hotel and the venue, and Boxcar hopes to lease it to a high-end restaurant. WISH-TV reports 18,000 square feet of retail offerings in the project.
Visit Indy lists the Indiana Fever Sports Performance Center at $78 million with a 2027 opening and a skywalk link to Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the Georgia Street west block opening in October 2026, and Ole Red between Gainbridge Fieldhouse and the Indiana Convention Center in early 2028.
Downtown supply sits behind the project. About 18 percent of downtown's nearly 8,800 hotel rooms carry a luxury classification by CoStar, and that figure reaches about 24 percent if the city's 2,600-room pipeline completes, per the Indianapolis Business Journal. The 170-room InterContinental Indianapolis opened in February 2025 under Keystone Group.
Open items
Several items remain unpublished. Ask Boxcar Development, Sage Hospitality Group and Live Nation for the hotel staffing schedule and service ratios, outlet names and covers, group rate floors, minimum-stay rules, buyout and exclusive-use terms, the ground-floor tenant for the 18,000-square-foot space, and the venue calendar for 2027 and 2028.