Bottleworks District – ULI Americas Awards for Excellence Finalist

Photo By Susan Fleck

The exterior features stylized (abstracted) ornament in common Art Deco designs, including sunbursts, “frozen fountains,” chevrons, and waves. Panels with birds and plants may have been intended to represent two of Coca-Cola’s tropical ingredients: kola nuts that provided caffeine (and the name “cola”) and the coca leaf

Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Developer: Hendricks Commercial Properties
Designers: RATIO Design; EUA
Site Size: 11.9 acres

Photo By Susan Fleck

The hotel lobby design reflects the convergence of new and old by embracing the strong Art Deco style and introducing a modern, mid-century aesthetic that comes together as one, undeniably differentiated hospitality experience

Bottleworks District is a $300+ million, 12-acre mixed-use development that has masterfully integrated past and present by reimagining Indy’s iconic Coca-Cola bottling property. The largest private development of its type in Indiana, Bottleworks serves as a culinary, arts, and entertainment hub, featuring the city’s first food hall, a boutique hotel, unique retail, and office space. Future phases include additional retail, office, and residential components.

What sets this project apart is its creative reuse of a historical manufacturing plant and service garages into a luxury hotel and food hall. The historical buildings featured the full restoration of the largest terracotta facades in Indiana. In addition, the new construction has added modern office space, a parking garage, and an 8-screen cinema.

The development has become Indianapolis’ premier entertainment district and hosts multiple special events throughout the year. As a major urban infill development, the project has connected adjacent historical neighborhoods and has become an integral part of the community.

The Bottleworks District has been nationally recognized for its outstanding repurposing and restoration of important historic structures and has significantly contributed to the quality of life in central Indiana.

Photo By House Photography

District streets are resurfaced with high-quality brick pavers and granite curbs, and a variety of intestitial spaces have been created, from pedestrianized alleyways to welcoming plazas

At a macro level, Bottleworks District re-established the street network and connectivity to adjacent neighborhoods by opening up Carrollton and 9th Street to the public. These roads had effectively been cut off from the community for over 50 years due to the site being a 12 acre private compound for Coca-Cola and then Indianapolis Public Schools. By making these connections, it also informed how the historical structures interfaced with the public realm and where new opportunities would be for future development.

Inside the district, Carrollton Street functions as the primary street and has a distinct and symbiotic relationship with the historical bottling administration building (now Bottleworks Hotel) and the historical maintenance garages (now entertainment and food hall). The facades of these buildings facing Carrollton Street are clad in ornate and gleaming white terra cotta art deco detailing and friezes depicting and/or evoking the raw materials that made up the ingredients of producing Coca-Cola. These details include coca beans, sugar cane, fountains, and tropical birds and imagery to convey the exotic and “healthful” benefits of the product that was once produced at the facility.

Inside the administration building (Bottleworks Hotel) this theming continued especially in the refilling room, monumental staircase, executive offices, and laboratory areas. The development team meticulously restored and repaired these historical elements and incorporated them into the hotel design giving them new life and purpose.

Photo By Courtesy of Hendricks Commercial Properties

Living Room Theaters was founded by filmmakers who wanted to elevate the cinema experience for moviegoers with a specific focus on our local communities. One of the new buildings in the district, the design is intended to complement the industrial historic buildings while contributing to the district’s character

Originally constructed in 1930-1931 by the Yuncker brothers, the facility underwent multiple expansions over the following two decades, designed and built by renowned architect firm Rubush & Hunter and contractor William P. Jungclaus Co. By 1950, it had grown into the world’s largest bottling plant, 240 Coca-Cola bottles per minute or over 2.2 million bottles weekly, facilitated by sophisticated assembly and filling machinery. Additionally, the facility housed three maintenance garages on Carrollton Street’s west side to service its extensive delivery truck fleet, with the garages notably adorned in white glazed terra cotta with ornate detail. These garages have since been repurposed into entertainment venues and a 38,000 SF food hall named “The Garage,” featuring local merchants and chef-driven vendors.

The introduction of the aluminum can in the 1960s led to a rapid decline in demand for bottled Coca-Cola, rendering the plant obsolete. In 1964, the property was sold to Tony Hulman, then-owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, who stored his car collection in the building before selling it to Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) in 1968. IPS utilized the space for administrative, maintenance, and warehousing purposes for nearly five decades. In 2017, Hendricks Commercial Properties won the bid to redevelop the site into a mixed-use district, known for seamlessly blending historical preservation with modern functionality. Redevelopment commenced in late 2018, with the first phase opening in late 2020, transforming the former bottling plant into a 139-room boutique hotel and street-front retail spaces, emphasizing the restoration and incorporation of historical features.

Bottleworks District – ULI Americas Awards for Excellence Finalist

Next Post

Seattle Convention Center Summit Building – ULI Americas Awards for Excellence Special Mention