Hopewell neighborhood bestows Bloomington with ‘once in a century’ housing opportunity
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Seeking to flip on its reputation for its pricey, insufficient housing issues, Bloomington is turning an old downtown hospital into a neighborhood filled with new housing types, aimed at affordability with connections to major amenities.
Officials see the land as an opportunity to utilize housing types in high demand locally through the new Hopewell neighborhood. The city said it plans to build around 1,000 residential units, including single-family, multi-plex, townhomes and multi-family. The goal is to have about 20% of the new units be affordable and workforce housing.
“It’s gonna be a great a great place to live,” Mayor John Hamilton said. “So we want to make sure that any people from all walks of life can live there for the foreseeable future.”
The neighborhood will be a place where anyone from any economic background can live, according to officials and Hopewell plans. A major focus will be on expanding rental and ownership opportunities that are affordable for workforce households who may have difficulties with making rent and finding housing close to work.
The area is directly next to a Kroger, across from a small park and nearby to Centerstone, an addiction and mental health treatment facility. Downtown Bloomington is accessible by walking or biking using the B-Line Trail. The area is a stone’s throw from Indiana University and down the road from major employers in Catalent and Cook Medical.
“When’s the last time we created a whole new neighborhood?” said John Zody, the city’s director of the Housing and Neighborhood Development Department. “When you’ve got the opportunity to build a sort of a whole new neighborhood here, you look at what kind of amenities might be needed.”
According to Census data, the average monthly rent in the city is $988, compared to the state average of $891. A previous study said Bloomington’s estimated vacant rate was close to 9%, but the most recent 2020 housing study said it may actually be closer to 2%. The report said this low of percentage could reduce housing opportunities and inflate rental prices.
Residents with questions or comments regarding the project can email the city at mayor@bloomington.in.gov. Those wanting to stay up to date can sign up for the email list online.
Mayor: “Once in a century opportunity”
The Hopewell project is one of many Hamilton has spurred during his eight years in office. He calls them his “string of pearls,” following along the city’s B-Line and including the budding Trades district, Switchyard Park and the convention center revitalization.
“It is a testament to Bloomington’s progress,” he said. “The city purchased those properties for just that reason to try to offer opportunities to steer that development in the way we want it to.”
The goal is for Hopewell to be designed for the 21st century, Hamilton said, meaning it has a variety of housing options, includes greenspace and is connected via bus lines and the B-Line. Hopewell will be sustainable both in how it is built, he said, but also in how it positions the habits of the people who Iive there.
“We want to see housing for all types of income in Hopewell, both affordable and market rate, because we’re gonna have a good mix there,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity to do that.”
A major component is affordability, which Hamilton said he wants to protect “through generations.” Nestled between two historic neighborhoods, he said they are setting goals to ensure affordability in both rental and ownership opportunities that include the often excluded low- and medium-income class.
Census data shows the city’s median annual income is just under $42,000 and 32.3% of the population live in poverty — though the large student population has been said to skew this data.
“You want to have a thick texture of different kinds of opportunities, and that you protect against either gentrification or getting too expensive or also impoverishing and getting too much concentration of very low-income housing,” he said.
Hamilton elaborates on the city’s recent string of development and the character the Hopewell neighborhood will likely have.
The highest-density area will likely be on the easternmost side of the plot along the B-Line, Zody said. The west side, where the hospital stood, will likely be multifamily and townhouses. More ownership opportunities will be south, he said, but will be sprinkled throughout. The housing will also be integrated with the other single-family home neighborhoods, he said, complementing the area since they have significant square footage to work with.
The city is also applying for low-income housing tax credits to in part fund and support some of these projects, he said. As for ownership, he said the city, of course, can’t control the price of a house, but it can use subsidies and down payment assistance programs to make that more attainable.
Limited home-buying opportunities exist in the city, especially for low-income and middle-class residents, as prices keep increasing and the inventory is condensed. Census data shows 35% of residents own their home in the city whereas the state rate is nearly 70%.
“It’s a really important goal for the city to have an increase in ownership,” Zody said. “We want to see ownership go up — both in our new neighborhood, and we want to help preserve ownership in our existing neighborhoods as well.”
A slew of student-focused housing projects has sprouted around town, including Atlas on 17th as well as major complexes around the College Mall and along Third Street heading toward campus.
Hopewell, however, is more slated toward a different population than undergrads. Another long-term resident housing development in the works on the city’s west side could add between 4,450 and 6,000 housing units.
“I want to make sure we keep the doors open for more people to be able to live in Bloomington,” Hamilton said. “We need to keep diversifying and welcoming new people to be able to live in Bloomington.”
Hamilton believes the future is bright for the city. He said he can foresee the city having one of the best mass transit systems in the country as a small municipality. After weathering the pandemic, he said they have rebounded well, and the new projects, in addition to the I-69 completion and the omnipresence of the university, puts Bloomington in a safe, strong position.
“It’s going to be a good few decades ahead,” he said.
The history behind Hopewell
The neighborhood’s namesake stems from the community’s first hospital and founder. The red brick house was built in 1905, called the Hopewell House and owned by Isaac Hopewell, and was converted to a hospital by the Local Council of Women soon after, according to the city of Bloomington. It acted as a community staple for six decades before IU Health rebuilt the hospital under its umbrella.
The city bought the 24-acre hospital site in 2018, which afterward was decommissioned and razed. The hospital system was already planning to relocate across town to its newly-built 622,000-square-foot regional hub, opening in late 2021.
The City of Bloomington Capital Improvements, Inc. board was created earlier this year to support community projects concerning housing, the arts as well as technology and jobs. The not-for-profit oversees major projects in areas like city land ownership and structures. Hopewell is one of the first major lifts of the new board.
The city ceremoniously broke ground on the new neighborhood in July. Since then, contracts and more planning have ensued. Hamilton said they are in the “marketing phase” to find good partners to collaborate in developing different parcels.
There is no completion date, he said, but the goal is sometime within the next decade for the first round of development to be completed.
“As a city neighborhood, you kind of typically think it’s never done,” he said. “It’s always evolving.”