This is Home
Building Home Place’s 106th & College Business District
This Is Home is a strategic blueprint for the future of Carmel, Indiana’s Home Place. Developed in three stages with extensive community input, it aims to preserve Home Place’s unique character and foster community growth. More than just a vision plan, it provides a place identity for the 106th & College area, establishes a new Indiana Main Street organization to guide how the identity is experienced, and coordinates short and long-term improvements for the business district and surrounding neighborhoods. The overall goal is to create a thriving place for all community members.
Services
Community Planning
Engagement
District Revitalization
Place Brand
Place Based Operation
Timeframe
2024 - 2025
Client
City of Carmel, Indiana
Location
Carmel, IN
Fractured, but not lost.
Home Place is a collection of neighborhoods with a historically strong identity and an immutable sense of independence. It has many rural qualities, yet residents and property owners are adjusting to being newly incorporated into the City of Carmel. In recent years, some key anchors have closed, including the neighborhood elementary school and the local watering hole. Community members are also experiencing newly reconstructed infrastructure and are witnessing big changes in new development at its edges. A planning process that brings the community together to articulate a vision and path forward is critical to reactivating the area and guiding the City and other partners in supporting Home Place.
Reconnecting the community
As in many places, Home Place used to have routine community events and well-visited establishments geared toward residents, but that has not been the case lately. Bringing a broad mix of community members into the planning process was quickly identified as a challenge. Grassroots community organizing became critical for accurately understanding the community’s shared values and desired experiences. To expand the project team’s local capacity, a team of residents was hired as community ambassadors. Their work included door-to-door canvassing, yard sign distribution, community correspondence, reinvigorating the online and social media presence, and hosting/attending meetings and gatherings.
To begin connecting community members wanting to be involved in positive change, a workshop series was implemented to give tips for getting organized. Several residents and business owners are now formalizing their role as a new Main Street organization focused on bringing vibrancy to the heart of the community, the 106th & College business district.
Showcasing who we are and where we’re heading
To effectively tell the Home Place story, a place identity was created to depict the vision and values of the community. The brandmarks help convey key characteristics, including stewardship, vibrancy, growth, creativity, and togetherness. The community plan describes ways this identity can begin to be experienced throughout the business district as wayfinding signage, branded benches, flower pots, and even on community members with new apparel and merchandise. The brand also ties the new 106th & College organization to the place they are helping to enhance.
In May 2025, 106th & College Inc hosted a Block Party, bringing together local businesses and residents through a celebratory event. A vacant property within the district was converted into a temporary pocket park where a food truck, a musician, and local artists were brought in to provide family-friendly activities. Local media covered the event, helping to promote the exciting trajectory that Home Place is on.
Project Impact
A planning process that is as focused on relationship and capacity building as it is on addressing changes to the physical environment is critical to getting a community on a path toward meaningful change.