The second deadline came and went, but Chambers’ company still hadn’t met the terms. That means they still owe about $69 million to the city of Indianapolis. We found this out from papers we got through requests for public records.
Brad Chambers, who used to be the Secretary of Commerce, is running for governor. He talks about how good he is at running businesses and making Indiana’s economy better. He started Buckingham Companies, a big real estate company that manages over $3 billion in property and has lots of workers in nine states. But back in Indianapolis, his real estate company didn’t do what they said they would in a big deal with the city. They missed not one, but two, deadlines to pay the city back.
This all started back when Greg Ballard was mayor. In 2011, the city said they’d give Chambers’ company almost $100 million in bonds. Then they lent $86 million of that to Chambers to make a place called CityWay in downtown.
Chambers put a lot of his own money into his campaign for governor. Records show he gave at least $9.6 million to his own campaign in the Republican primary.
CityWay’s been a big change for downtown. It turned a parking lot near a big employer into a busy area. But it shows that when cities make big deals for new stuff, it can hurt taxpayers later, even if different people are in charge.
Rev. David W. Greene Sr., who is a pastor in Indianapolis, thinks the system is unfair. He says it helps rich people like Chambers and hurts regular people.
Chambers’ campaign didn’t want to talk about this, but they said it was just a way to hurt Chambers politically. They say he’s been good at running his company for 40 years, and the company that owns CityWay is proud of what they’ve done for the city.
They say the pandemic hurt CityWay’s hotel and other parts of the project. They got more time to pay their loan back, but they still haven’t paid Indianapolis back all the way.
The company paid the people they owe money to, but they still owe money to the city. The deal was that they’d pay back both, but they haven’t finished paying the city back.
If Chambers wins and becomes governor, he’d still owe money to Indianapolis. He’s up against five other people in the primary.
While the city is waiting for Chambers’ company to pay them back, they can’t use that money for other things they need. They could use it for helping homeless people downtown or making the streets safer for walkers and bikers.
Chambers’ company said they’d pay the city back this year, but they didn’t say exactly when.
Back in 2011, some people thought there were problems with the deal. They said if banks didn’t want to lend money for the project, why should the city? But the city said it was worth it because it would bring more jobs and make downtown better.
Eli Lilly, which is a big company in Indianapolis, wanted the project to help connect its campus to downtown. They’d talked to Chambers about it for a while. The city listened to them because they’re a big employer.
Some people thought the deal Chambers’ company got wasn’t fair. They didn’t have to bid for it, and most of the money came from the city using bonds. Eli Lilly and the YMCA helped, but Chambers’ company didn’t have to pay a fee. The city also spent $9 million on making the area better.
An expert said it was a bad deal. Usually, cities use bonds for things like roads or a little bit for a project. But in this case, the city paid for most of a project they don’t even own.
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