Indianapolis publishes a construction cost, a phase window and a contact line for its work. The city should publish a payment line for the businesses inside the work zone. That is the standard the Fountain Square drainage project sets.
The project is the Fountain Square Area Drainage Improvements Project, numbered SD-32-014. The Department of Public Works lists a $14 million construction estimate. Parts of Shelby Street have been closed since January. The department told the Indianapolis Business Journal in August that it targets the end of the year for completion.
The schedule the city published
The city's project page carries a phase-one window of the first quarter of 2026 through the fourth quarter of 2026, and a second phase in 2032. Three public meetings sit on the record: 19 October 2023, 26 September 2024 and 24 June 2025. The project office answers at FSdrainage@gmail.com and (317) 981-2515. A phase-three detour route runs until July 2026. The phase-four and phase-five detour maps carry one line each: "Timeframe for this detour will be determined at a later date."
An operator on the closed block plans a season against those dates. Three published end points and two undated detours leave nothing to plan against.
What the closed block reported
Nick Detrich owns Magdalena, a cocktail bar and restaurant at 1127 Shelby St. He told the IBJ his revenue is down more than 20 percent from 2025. The sidewalk in front of his door was removed for more than a month, and he closed the side patio because of dust and debris. Water came up through the dining room floor twice during rain, more than 100 gallons in about 30 minutes on the first pass. He put the lost sales at $8,000 to $10,000.
Lexi Haines owns Parkside Public House at 2602 Shelby St. in Garfield Park. A July post on the restaurant's own page covered a small fire, a robbery, and the line "We are about to hit our financial wall." She gave the IBJ her own sequence: "We had our best month the month prior to the project starting and the road shutting down up there. After the closures started, we had our worst months."
Phil Kirk leads the Kirk Realty Team and landlords 12 small businesses in Garfield Park. He gave the IBJ the figure that should set every city decision on a retail street. "They don't have to lose 50% of their customers to start struggling," he said. "Even if you lose 5% to 15% of your regular customer base over a long period of time, that can very easily result in closure."
The mitigation on the record
Craig Von Deylen owns the Murphy Arts Center at 1043 Virginia Ave. He told the IBJ that the Department of Public Works has done a good job of communicating with businesses in the area. Detrich gave the IBJ the other account. "The extent of the project was not really communicated well, in terms of how much of the street would be impacted," he said. "It's one thing to say the road will be closed, but it's another if we don't have a sidewalk for a month and a half."
The department emailed a statement to the IBJ. "We want to acknowledge our team did directly engage with business owners in the area and garnered support of the project," the statement read. On the water incidents the statement read: "At the time of the rain event, the project was partially constructed and not yet operating at full capacity."
The next closure on the same trade area
Indiana Department of Transportation crews will close segments of Virginia Avenue and Fletcher Avenue between Fletcher Place and Fountain Square for 24 weeks of 2027. The work redecks bridges above Interstates 65 and 70. The Fletcher Avenue bridge alone closes for 12 weeks, and the Indianapolis Cultural Trail stays open through the work.
INDOT changed its own schedule to run both bridges together. "People want the construction to get over with quicker," said Jordan Yaney, public relations director for INDOT's East Central District. "So we're going to do both bridges at the same time." Yaney said INDOT identifies a project about five years before construction starts.
Kirk linked the drainage project, the Madison Avenue Road Diet near Hanna Avenue and Shelby Street, and the I-65 Safety and Efficiency project that closed ramps at Raymond Street this summer. "There's probably an underestimation of how interconnected neighborhoods in Indianapolis actually are," he said.
Who should hold the loss
The department that signs a closure order should hold the loss account. Indianapolis already publishes a project number, a cost, a phase window and a project office for this work. A district carrying a $14 million utility trench through its retail frontage needs four more entries in the same document. A reopening date for every block. A named department officer for every tenant. A dollar figure against a business loss. A fund that pays it.
Run the trench across a season that finishes. Fund the businesses inside the work zone before the first barricade. Send the officer to every business on the closed block with the calendar in hand. A published payment line costs money, and it is the part of the model the city has left out of a $14 million project.