12-02-2025
Noblesville eyes largest residential development in city history
Plans are proceeding for a massive $2 billion residential development in Noblesville that amounts in scope to some Indiana small towns.
Gatewood Lakes would be a square-mile of homes, parkland, man-made lakes and stores between 156th and 146th streets and Olio and Cyntheanne roads, near Ruoff Music Center.
Zionsville-based Henke Development Group submitted plans to build 2,422 houses and possibly 1,000 apartments over seven to 10 years. The housing will include single-family houses, townhouses and duets.
Once completed, the 1,300-acre development will have a population well over 5,000, said Sarah Reed, development director for Noblesville.
'This is far bigger than anything ever developed in Noblesville,' Reed said, adding that the next two largest developments are both on 600 acres.
The farmland in unincorporated Hamilton County was sold by the Gatewood family to Henke and valued at $3.4 million. The city is annexing it in a voluntary agreement so it can provide street, water and sewer upgrades.
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Within the next four years, 20% of the project will be completed. The costs of added police and fire protection and other city services will be off-set by property tax collections, which the city estimates will reach $6.3 million annually by the fourth year of development.
Reed described the development as high-end and self-sustaining, a specialty of Henke.
'Henke is known for building communities within communities,' she said. 'And they are resort style places, with many amenities. We don't have that in Noblesville.'
The project site would be divided into six sections, such as Garden Park District and Gatewood Landing — and a commercial district will be a 200-acre section called Deer Creek Village. The village will have mixed-use developments of apartments, offices, commercial, restaurants, shops and bars.
Artist's renderings show a big-box style hardware store and grocery along with smaller businesses in a downtown setting consistent with the "Main Street," architectural aesthetic of Hamilton Town Center.
Single family house townhomes with a variety of sizes and styles from different home builders will line residential streets with sidewalks in other parts of the development. More than 20-miles of trails will snake through 140 acres of parkland and along several water bodies. At least one footbridge would cross a lake leading to an island in one of the lakes.
Gatewood Lakes is north of Noblesville's Innovation Mile business and technology corridor and east of Ruoff Music Center.
Reed said the proposed golf cart development is close enough for residents to walk to either of the nearby amenities.
'It works well within the contours we've crafted and the trail connections' she said.
The project was introduced to the City Council Tuesday and will be sent to the Plan Commission for a public hearing on Feb. 2 and vote on Feb. 18. From there it goes back to the council for a vote on Feb. 25.
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Noblesville eyes largest residential development in city history
