FOR IMME­DI­ATE RELEASE from the Indi­ana Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment Corporation…

East Cen­tral Indi­ana Allo­cates REA­DI 2.0 Fund­ing to Spur Down­town Revi­tal­iza­tion in Marion

MAR­I­ON, Ind. (Dec. 19, 2024) – Region­al lead­ers in east cen­tral Indi­ana today announced plans to award REA­DI 2.0 fund­ing to Riv­er Rock Lofts – a mixed-use devel­op­ment in the heart of Mar­i­on. The award is designed to spark urban revi­tal­iza­tion and enhance the local econ­o­my while improv­ing qual­i­ty of life for res­i­dents and fos­ter­ing sus­tain­able com­mu­ni­ty growth.

Gov­er­nor Eric J. Hol­comb estab­lished the now $1.25 bil­lion REA­DI pro­gram in 2021, and it has since been nation­al­ly rec­og­nized for its suc­cess. REA­DI 2.0, which was part of the governor’s 2023 Next Lev­el Agen­da and approved by the Indi­ana Gen­er­al Assem­bly, allo­cates anoth­er $500 mil­lion to regions across the state to accel­er­ate shov­el-ready projects and pro­grams that are expect­ed to trans­form Indi­ana com­mu­ni­ties, attract tal­ent and improve qual­i­ty of life for Hoosiers in the short and long term. REA­DI 2.0 fund­ing allo­ca­tions were award­ed in April to 15 regions rep­re­sent­ing all 92 Indi­ana coun­ties.

​“Through REA­DI, Indi­ana is invest­ing in com­mu­ni­ties of all shapes and sizes, ensur­ing that urban, rur­al and sub­ur­ban neigh­bor­hoods statewide are poised for growth,” said Indi­ana Sec­re­tary of Com­merce David Rosen­berg. ​“This mixed-use devel­op­ment in Mar­i­on is set to spark down­town growth and vibran­cy against the back­drop of the Mis­sissinewa Riv­er, cre­at­ing a unique des­ti­na­tion for res­i­dents and vis­i­tors while serv­ing as a cat­a­lyst for con­tin­ued urban revitalization.” 

The $10.8 mil­lion devel­op­ment (includ­ing an $850,000 REA­DI 2.0 award) in Grant Coun­ty will bring new life to Marion’s down­town river­front dis­trict. Riv­er Rock Lofts will cre­ate 44 one- and two-bed­room apart­ments, 3,300 square feet of com­mer­cial space and a pub­lic plaza for com­mu­ni­ty use, accel­er­at­ing urban hous­ing, indus­try and com­mu­ni­ty gath­er­ing spaces to fos­ter qual­i­ty of life and qual­i­ty of place.

The devel­op­ment, which will add the city’s long-term vision of cre­at­ing a dense and walk­a­ble down­town, will also fea­ture mod­ern ameni­ties for today’s tal­ent, includ­ing and indoor/​outdoor court­yard, a work-from-home lounge, indoor bike stor­age and pet-friend­ly ameni­ties. Con­struc­tion of Riv­er Rock Lofts is expect­ed to begin in ear­ly 2025 and be com­plete by the spring of 2026.

​“We are deeply hon­ored to receive fund­ing for this trans­for­ma­tive project in our city,” said Mar­i­on May­or Ronald Mor­rell, Jr. ​“Mar­i­on is poised for growth, and the REA­DI 2.0 ini­tia­tive has posi­tioned us to build a vibrant future in our down­town. It is tru­ly inspir­ing to see our state gov­ern­ment invest in com­mu­ni­ties like ours, and this devel­op­ment would not be pos­si­ble with­out their invalu­able part­ner­ship.”

REA­DI 1.0 has award­ed $487 mil­lion to 353 unique projects and pro­grams across the state, yield­ing $12.6 bil­lion invest­ed (26:1 invest­ment lever­age ratio) in qual­i­ty of life, qual­i­ty of place and qual­i­ty of oppor­tu­ni­ty ini­tia­tives. REA­DI 2.0, which secured addi­tion­al fund­ing award­ed by the Lil­ly Endow­ment Inc., is allo­cat­ing anoth­er $750 mil­lion to accel­er­ate com­mu­ni­ty devel­op­ment invest­ments statewide. This fund­ing is expect­ed to attract a min­i­mum 4:1 match of local pub­lic and pri­vate fund­ing, yield­ing at least $3 bil­lion invest­ed to increase the vibran­cy and pros­per­i­ty of Hoosier com­mu­ni­ties.

Mar­i­on is part of the REA­DI East Cen­tral Indi­ana region – led by the East Cen­tral Indi­ana Region­al Part­ner­ship (ECIRP) and sup­port­ed by its local orga­ni­za­tions, includ­ing the Grant Coun­ty Eco­nom­ic Growth Coun­cil – that was award­ed $50 mil­lion in REA­DI 1.0 and REA­DI 2.0 match­ing funds to sup­port qual­i­ty of life, qual­i­ty of place and qual­i­ty of oppor­tu­ni­ty projects across Black­ford, Delaware, Fayette, Grant, Hen­ry, Jay, Ran­dolph and Wayne coun­ties. The region’s REA­DI invest­ments are designed to accel­er­ate eco­nom­ic growth, region­al pros­per­i­ty and pop­u­la­tion growth through invest­ments in qual­i­ty of life, hous­ing and infra­struc­ture, child­care and fam­i­ly sup­port, and edu­ca­tion. ECIRP has been work­ing dili­gent­ly to gath­er infor­ma­tion need­ed to advance REA­DI 2.0 projects, and will con­tin­ue to announce new REA­DI 2.0 awards once final­ized with the Indi­ana Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment Corporation.