Q&A with Keystone Group
In our Member Spotlight this month, we chatted with Keystone Group Chairman & CEO, Ersal Ozdemir, about the exciting new Eleven Park Development Project coming to Indianapolis.
As the Indy Eleven’s Owner and Chairman, what does it mean for you to have Keystone Group secure the Eleven Park location?
It is very exciting. We have been working diligently for the last several years to secure a large area of land downtown for Eleven Park, a transformational neighborhood development, that will include a hotel, office, apartments, retail and public spaces – all anchored by a 20,000 seat multi-purpose soccer stadium. This village will be a 365 days a year – live, work, play community that will transform this section of Indianapolis providing jobs and significant economic development to downtown Indianapolis and surrounding areas.
What aspects of the project are you looking forward to most?
Having a place to call home for Indy Eleven Men’s and Women’s teams has been my dream since I started the team in 2013. I am excited for that to come true but it’s not just the stadium but the concept of the entire village that I am looking forward to that will transform this part of downtown and provide a great game day experience before, during and after the games. I am looking forward to creating an entire neighborhood that will bring vibrancy, fans, families and talent to this part of downtown and the connectivity it will have to other sporting venues, convention center and other downtown amenities.
Indy Eleven is planning to reach out to community members to collaborate on the Park’s design elements. How will the Eleven Park be uniquely connected to the City of Indianapolis?
We believe this site is the best place to invest knowing it will have a transformational impact to the southside of Indianapolis, serving as a “new neighborhood village” within the Stadium Village Neighborhood that bridges the central business district, Victory Field, Lucas Oil Stadium, the White River and the Elanco campus. This location with the new Henry Street bridge will serve as an important gateway to the City and bring connectivity and a pedestrian connection to the heart of downtown. We look forward to working with all civic leaders, community partners, and fans to make this a place to which we can all be proud.
What will a completed Eleven Park mean for the GIPC community?
I believe it will bring an amazing outdoor amenity of a size we don’t currently have that will attract additional opportunities, talent, conventions, sporting events, concerts and much more that will have a lasting economic impact and change the footprint of downtown. You see many successful cities developing such villages, and to keep up with other cities around the country, we need to be the next city to do so. This will continue the progress of building on the business of sports that has successfully existed in Indianapolis for the past several decades.
Does Keystone have an estimated groundbreaking date?
We plan to tear down the existing buildings on the site in the Spring of 2023 and begin site work on the stadium and private development with the goal to open the stadium and first phases of private development in the Spring of 2025.