Goals unmet, Infosys tight-lipped about future of campus
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Infosys Ltd.’s west-side Indianapolis property, a three-story, 160,000-square-foot building near Indianapolis International Airport, is definitely more eye-catching than the airport parking lot that previously occupied that spot.
But when it comes to the actual impact the company has had—or may yet have—on the west side of Indianapolis? That’s harder to say. And Infosys isn’t talking about what it is or isn’t doing at the site.
“It’s an impressive image when you look at the area,” Jerry Knoop, executive director of the West Side Chamber of Commerce, said about the Infosys building, which is included in the chamber’s territory.
But, he added, “It likely hasn’t had the economic impact that others have wanted—or had hoped for—to this point. It doesn’t mean it won’t.”
In November 2018, the India-based tech giant broke ground on what it said would eventually be a $245 million, 141-acre campus with 786,000 square feet of facilities, including a training center, conference and recreational facilities, and other amenities. The company, which as of earlier that year had only 150 Indianapolis employees working from OneAmerica’s downtown tower, also said it planned to have 3,000 Indianapolis-area employees by the end of 2023.
But to date, only one Infosys building has risen from the former parking lot at the northeast corner of Sam Jones Expressway and South High School Road. The company canceled a planned grand opening celebration for that building in May 2023. At the time, Infosys said it planned to reschedule the event, but there are no indications that the event ever happened or is scheduled to happen.
A renovated parking garage that served as airport parking for the former terminal is also part of the project, as is a pedestrian walkway over High School Road that leads from the garage to the office building—though these structures appear to be unused.
It’s unclear what comes next for the campus. The company itself has not been forthcoming, and those outside the company say answers are hard to come by.
“Hell, if you can get an update, I want an update,” City-County Councilor Jared Evans told IBJ. Evans, whose district includes the west-side Infosys site, said he’s been frustrated by the company’s lack of communication.
That lack of communication is especially galling to Evans because of the significant incentives the city of Indianapolis extended to Infosys.
In 2018, the Indianapolis Airport Authority agreed to sell 58 acres to the city for $4.4 million. The airport authority also renovated its former parking garage, then sold it to the city for $12 million under a seven-year contract. The city then sold these properties to Infosys for $1 each.
“Infosys has been such an isolated company,” Evans said. “They don’t appear to me to want to be willing partners.”
Evans said he heard secondhand that Infosys might be planning two additional buildings on the north side of its existing office building. But Evans acknowledged that he has never seen any renderings or site plans for the buildings and that the information is a few years old and might be outdated.
For its part, the Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development says Infosys is in compliance with its incentives agreement.
“The city and Infosys are committed to a continued partnership to promote job growth and development on the west side of Indianapolis,” DMD spokesman Lucas Gonzalez told IBJ in an e-mailed statement. “The agreement includes a shared financial commitment from the city and the state, with the city’s obligations including training, public infrastructure, land acquisition and demolition.”
Gonzalez also said the agreement anticipated that the Infosys campus would be developed in phases. “Phase 1 has been completed and Infosys is in compliance with the terms of the agreement with the city of Indianapolis. Community stakeholders can anticipate additional engagement as conversations progress on future phases of development.”
Still hopeful
Jeff Butts, superintendent of the Metropolitan School District of Decatur Township, said he believes Infosys’ original vision for the west-side campus has changed. But he said this belief is based on his intuition, given the impact the pandemic has likely had on companies’ facility needs, rather than on concrete information.
When it comes to economic development in general, Butts observed, “the original vision or the original plan doesn’t always come to fruition.”
Butts also serves as president of the Indy Gateway Inc. community development corporation, whose territory includes the Infosys campus.
He said his school district hasn’t developed much of a relationship with Infosys. And he said Indy Gateway has had conversations with Infosys, but the company has made no commitments of financial support for the organization.
Still, Butts said he’s optimistic that both the school district and the CDC might yet form partnerships with Infosys. “We hope we’ll be able to find opportunities.”
Knoop, the West Side Chamber of Commerce executive, said he has had positive interactions with Infosys and has been to the west-side campus a few times for community events, including one in which a few dozen Wayne Township students talked with Infosys employees and received a facility tour.
Like the others, Knoop also said he believes Infosys’ original vision for the campus has shifted.
“I really believe that they want to do some good things,” Knoop said of Infosys. “I think that things have just changed.”
No comment
The company itself is being tight-lipped about its plans.
Infosys’ top local executive, Richard Cardwell, did not respond to a written message left for him at the company’s airport office last week.
And Harini Babu, the company’s New York City-based head of marketing, did not respond to email and phone messages.
In a September 2022 email to Evans and several other city officials, Cardwell wrote that “we remain committed to hiring 3,000 people and have hired over 1,000 to date.”
But there are signs the company has fallen short of its original job-creation vision. An IBJ reporter’s visit to the site last week revealed that people are working in the building, and the 100-space parking lot was nearly full. But traffic cones blocked the High School Road entrance and exit to the former airport parking garage that was renovated specifically for Infosys.
In 2019, the Indiana Economic Development Corp. offered Infosys an incentives package totaling $86 million.
The largest piece of that package was $56.5 million in EDGE tax credits based on the company’s goal of hiring 3,000 people by the end of 2023. EDGE stands for Economic Development for a Growing Economy. These tax credits are performance-based, meaning a company can claim them only after hiring Hoosiers.
According to the IEDC’s online transparency portal, Infosys has claimed only $5.17 million in EDGE tax credits, less than 10% of the amount it is eligible to claim. The company has until the end of 2026 to claim the remainder of the credits by adding more jobs.
IEDC spokesman Nathan Brown declined to confirm that the amount reported as claimed by Infosys is up to date. He referred IBJ back to the transparency portal, though IEDC officials have said in the past the portal’s information is not always the latest available.
Brown also declined to say whether the IEDC has had conversations with Infosys about future development at the company’s site.