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After a three-year delay, a project with 180 townhouses along the Midland Trace Trail in Noblesville is slated for construction as the city sprints to develop property next to the greenway that connects to Westfield.

The hold-up: city planners want to be sure they find the best mix of projects along the five-mile trail that holds promise as a magnet for walkable residential and commercial development. For inspiration, they asked themselves a simple question — "What would Carmel do?"

The suburb’s successful development along the Monon has become the standard by which all new greenway development is measured.

The Village at Trail Crossing will be south of State Road 32 and west of Hazel Dell Parkway on a site where the council previously voted down a similar residential development. The new proposal by M/I Homes is more dynamic than the initial previous plan by Olthof Homes for 123 two-story homes, officials said.

“The three-story townhomes fit better,” Sarah Reed, community development director, said. “It’s a got a more urban vibe, the way the development of the Monon Trail in Carmel has progressed.”

The Midland Trace between Westfield and Noblesville has been under construction for five years. It will be extended over a bridge into downtown Noblesville when the Pleasant Street road project is finished next year, connecting the Monon in Westfield to the just-completed Nickel Plate Trail in Noblesville.

Noblesville and developers see that connection as a lucrative draw for homes and businesses, pointing toward Carmel’s cultivation of development on Monon as an economic engine.

Monon envy

The Monon is now the center of Carmel’s recreational, social and economic activity and has spurred more than $1 billion in private investment. Tall, trail-facing apartments and office buildings, businesses, plazas, a performing arts center — the Palladium — and an upscale Hotel Carmichael, are among projects that line the greenway on both sides.

Former Mayor Jim Brainard labeled the Monon as Carmel’s “beachfront property,” which has increased land values around it. The phrase has been repeated by at least one optimistic Noblesville councilor to describe the Midland Trace’s potential.

In Fishers, the Monon was the blueprint for the newly completed Nickel Plate Trail, which has already spurred $515 million in private investment.

The largest of the developments was the first, and it began construction even before trail work began. Nickel Plate Station includes the 6-story First Internet Bank, a 237-room mixed-use apartment complex and Hotel Nickel Plate, all at 116th Street. The most recent project is the $75 million City Walk homes planned at 121st and the Nickel Plate, with 87-unit apartment building, 106 condominiums and 41 townhouses.

“None of this would be here without the Nickel Plate Trail,” Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness told IndyStar.

City wants trail density

M/I Homes decided to develop the Village at Trial Crossing when Olthof determined it couldn’t afford to after refining their design with the three-story townhouses at Noblesville's request.

“That was a new concept for them, and they suggested we might want to try it because it was like some of our other properties,” said Jonathan Isaacs, a land planner for M/I.

The $70 million project will have four rows of townhouses with one facing the Midland Trace. An alley will separate that row from the second behind it, which will face a grassy courtyard. Two rows of townhomes on the other side of the courtyard, and a few homes on the side of it, will complete the development.

The houses will top off at about $375,000.

The City Council voted 7-2 in favor the project at a recent meeting. Councilor Evan Elliott voted against it because he said it packed in too many units in the given space and the design of the townhouses was repetitive.

“It was the second higher density proposal within a month with similar townhome product,” Elliott told IndyStar. “I was looking for a (housing) mix. Not everyone is going to walk up three flights of stairs.”

Elliott said he also didn’t like that the balconies on the townhouses along the trail do not face the greenway but rather the alley and homes behind it. The balconies in the second row of homes also face the alley, instead of the courtyard.

“I like concept of central green space,” said Elliott, who owns Elliott Real Estate. ”I didn’t understand why balconies don't face the greenspace.”

Isaacs said the trailside homes have front doors that face the trail and the second row homes’ front doors face the central green. He told IndyStar that though balconies are a desirable amenity, residents generally use them as places to decorate or grow plants rather than hang out on them.

“The buyers tend to live in the community spaces,” he said. “They want be here to be able to get out.”

More projects in works

Several other developments along State Road 32 north of the Midland Trace are in planning. Midland Pointe, on the east side of Hazell Dell, will be a commercial mall facing State Road 32 with a subdivision behind it fronting the trail.

The developer is Old Town Companies, which has several Carmel developments along the Monon, including Sun King Brewery, Allied Solutions headquarters' and Sunrise on the Monon, a complex of 148-single family homes and 256 custom apartments.

The Midland Pointe commercial mall will have a Crew Car Wash, Wawa Convenience store and gas station and a restaurant. The residential development will be a mix of townhouses, mid-rise stacked flats and two-story buildings.

Epcon Communities, of Ohio, is proposing 110 houses called The Courtyards of Hazel Dell on the east side of Hazel Dell Parkway next to the trail that would be for residents 55 and older.

And on the Northside of State Road 32 a new Meijer store will open in July.

Next to the Meijer, Promenade Trails, is finishing up construction of 151 apartments and 59 cottage rentals with sidewalks and trails for people 55 years and older. The complex is an addition to Promenade Apartments, which has 300 apartments, both built by Justus Companies, of Indianapolis.

All the developments stress open park areas and connecting walkways and trails as an easy hop to the nearby Midland Trace.

Call IndyStar reporter John Tuohy at 317-444-6418. Email at john.tuohy@indystar.com and follow on Twitter and Facebook.