McCordsville may be Indy's next big suburb, but first it needs a new grocery store

John Tuohy
IndyStar
A retail strip at the intersection of U.S. 36 and Mt. Comfort Road in McCordsville, Ind., seen on Sunday, May 13, 2018. Town officials want to develop 100 acres of farmland behind the strip into a town center, with apartments, stores, restaurants, specialty shops and sidewalks and trails. The Hancock County suburb's population of 6,000 is expected to nearly double by 2020 and leaders want to make McCordsvi

Corrections & clarifications: A previous version of this story incorrectly described McCordsville's role in the proposed development of 100 acres of farmland.

When longtime McCordsville resident Jenny Sweet shops for groceries, she goes to a Kroger in Fishers. When she wants a fancy meal, she'll head to downtown Indianapolis or nearby Fortville. For clothes, it's Hamilton Town Center in Noblesville. Home furnishings, Castleton.

In the tiny but swelling Hancock County suburb, Sweet's shopping habits are typical.

A market study commissioned by the town found that the area is so devoid of retailers that more than half its residents shop elsewhere for even basic needs like groceries.

The analysis by the Indianapolis-based consultant, Veridus Group, measured retail patterns among McCordsville’s roughly 6,000 residents and about 55,000 more within a few miles of the town and found they spend $638 million a year in neighboring communities. 

Whatever gets built in McCordsville 'will be successful'

Town officials said the study, which was commissioned to weigh the viability of a new town center, bolsters their contention that a huge commercial injection is sorely needed in McCordsville.

“It basically concluded that no matter what we build here, (it) will be successful,” Town Manager Tonya Galbraith said.

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The consultant and SLE Analytics, of Indianapolis, recommended the town add restaurants and a grocery store as anchors of the town center, a department store as a second-tier retailer and health and personal well-being businesses, as well as liquor retailers, as third-tier tenants.

Though McCordsville has added some businesses recently, such as Scarlet Lane Brewing and a Meijer, the analysts found that 54 percent of residents buy their groceries elsewhere, 47 percent leave the area to dine out and 46 percent shop at out-of-town department stores.

The number of people buying health products and liquor elsewhere is even higher — 78 percent and 73 percent, respectively.

McCordsville's population is soaring

The suburb is close to Fishers and Geist in Hamilton County and Lawrence and Indianapolis in Marion County and is the third-quickest-growing place in Indiana. The population is expected to hit 11,500 by 2020.

Last year, the town announced tentative plans to work with developers to build apartments, stores, restaurants, specialty shops and sidewalks and trails on 100 acres of farmland near the intersection of Mount Comfort Road and U.S. 36.

"I am all for that plan," said Sweet, a 48-year-old mother of three who owns a daycare center. "I have seen the growth explode and, though I still like the small-town feel, it would be nice for us to have boutiques and more options to eat than a pizza place and a taco shop."

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Courtney Zaugg, director of economic development for Veridus, said the growing community’s needs will change over time but those that are most immediate appear to be more retail choices.

“They are very light on retail and industry,” Zaugg said. “Then, a community has to know when it has enough in one area and concentrate on others for the long-term growth.”

Retail, for example, might be followed by a period where other types of commercial or service industry are in short supply, followed by a demand for more homes followed by more schools and government services.

Town can plan its retail growth from ground up

Zaugg said because there is so little available commercially now McCordsville has the luxury of, essentially, starting from scratch by carefully measuring what the residents need most and tailoring development to it.

The analysis found that the new homeowners in the McCordsville region earn higher incomes and have higher-than-average educations compared to the state overall, and the area is more densely populated, making the town ripe for a retail explosion.

Specifically, the report found:       

  • Averagehome value in and around McCordsville is more than $100,000 greater than the state average.
  • The area has more than four times as many people per square mile than the state average.
  • Residents are more likely to be employed in white collar jobs, such as management, business, financial.
  • More than half of the area's population has a college degree, twice the state level.

McCordsville is paying Context Design of Fortville $38,000 to write a conceptual town center plan that could be ready by the spring. At the same time, it is working with the communities of New Palestine, Mount Comfort and Cumberland to improve Mount Comfort Road, a major north-south thoroughfare that stretches 15 miles through all four towns.

The Urban Land Institute earlier this month recommended attracting businesses to the strip, infrastructure improvements and road construction to relieve traffic jams near the CSX freight train tracks at U.S. 36 and Mount Comfort Road.

If development unfolds properly, the region's market value could increase by $500 million, the Washington, D.C., land planning organization found.

Call IndyStar reporter John Tuohy at 317 444-6418. Follow on Twitter and Facebook.