Carmel planning $19M Ardalan Plaza as Arts & Design District gateway
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Construction is expected to begin this year on a $19 million, three-story building that will serve as a gateway to Carmel’s Arts & Design District.
Ardalan Plaza is planned to be built on one acre at the southeast corner of the roundabout at West Main Street and Fourth Avenue Southwest. The building will feature 8,000 square feet of retail space with an art gallery on the first floor, five luxury condominiums on the second floor and a private residence for Abdolaziz and Masoomeh Ardalan on the third floor.
Dr. Abdolaziz Ardalan is a vascular surgeon, while Masoomeh Ardalan operates the Soori Art Gallery at 33 E. Main St. in the Arts & Design District. The Carmel Redevelopment Commission is partnering with the Ardalans on the project.
“[Ardalan Plaza] will be the first thing people see as they enter our Arts & Design District and drive past the fountain [on the roundabout],” Carmel Redevelopment Commission Executive Director Henry Mestetsky said.
Carmel-based Studio M Architecture and Planning is designing Ardalan Plaza, which will be built in the style of an Italian villa with decorative columns, cornices and balustrades, according to documents filed with the city.
“It’s a beautiful extension of our walkable Main Street, and the architecture is really going to be really unique,” Mestetsky said. “And that’s how we can continue making Carmel a place that people want to see and visit.”
Ardalan Plaza will be built on three parcels: 311 W. Main St., 321 W. Main St. and 331 W. Main St. The Carmel Redevelopment Commission purchased the parcels at 311 W. Main St. in 2023 and 331 W. Main St. in 2024, and the Ardalans purchased the property at 321 W. Main St. in 2014, according to Hamilton County property records.
“This has been a thought-out, methodical process to gather that Main Street frontage and put together a project,” Mestetsky said.
Studio M has an extensive portfolio in Carmel, including The Collective at Midtown at the northeast corner of Veterans Way and 3rd Street Southwest, the Carmel Clay Historical Museum along Monon Boulevard in Midtown and 1st on Main at the northeast corner of Range Line Road and Main Street.
In separate meetings last month, members of the Carmel Plan Commission and hearing officers for the Plan Commission (Community Services Director Mike Hollibaugh) and the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA member Leah York) approved variances for Ardalan Plaza. The project will not require additional approval, and a groundbreaking is expected in the second quarter of 2025.