Tinker Flats
Indianapolis
The East 16th Street corridor of downtown Indianapolis, just north of the I-60 and I-70 interchange, was an industrial hub for the city for nearly 100 years, but more recently, the area has been pocked with defunct and neglected structures. However, a renewed interest in transforming the downtown area into a place where people can work, live and play is bringing a lot of energy and focus to the blighted area.
At the forefront of the revitalization movement for the street is Tinker Flats, which now is an abandoned three-story brick warehouse but by early 2015 is expected to be an incubator for businesses to cultivate their food-and-beverage production processes alongside each other and give the public intimate access to the practices.
“We really wanted to create an environment that would allow multiple businesses to come in, focused around food-and-beverage innovation,” said Allison Eckstein, vice president of marketing for Better Retail, the development company for Tinker Flats. “We’re willing to commit the Tinker building as kind of one of the first ones there to start this progression.”
Eckstein says the original warehouse, with more than 30,000 square feet of space, will be home to five or six businesses, which could include artisan producers such as a chocolatier, a distiller, a brewer, or other specific craft experts.
Tinker Flats will also come fitted with a number of open meeting spaces those businesses can use for a variety of functions, such as public seminars and educational demonstrations, as well as a type of experimental “pop up” restaurant that could feature the products being produced at the facility.
