OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Capital Improvements Board Meeting Summary – September 11, 2026

Other Meetings (A-H) — Friday, September 11, 2026
BodyIndianapolis, Indiana
SessionOther Meetings (A-H)
DateFriday, September 11, 2026
StatusNEW · FILED
Video Record
0:00 / 37:24

Transcript — Verbatim
0:01

Good morning, everyone.

0:03

Thank you for being here.

0:04

I'd like to call the capital approvements boarding county to order.

0:09

This being 9 11, I think it's important that the rest are recognized it's the 25th anniversary of that date.

0:19

There'll be people a lot more eloquent than I am here.

0:22

We're gonna talk about this today, but I guess two thoughts come to mind.

0:25

First, I think we all remain forever grateful to the first responders and to everyone who's helped over the years and continue to help on that uh tragic day.

0:35

And then I think we're all pretty grateful in this room uh that we can gather in public spaces, public spaces at the CIB on the public spaces in our community, and they all mean a lot to us, so I'll just say that and get down to this.

0:50

So the first item on the agenda is approval of minutes for the month of the first meeting.

0:55

So there is second second.

0:59

Any opposed?

1:00

Okay, thank you.

1:02

Next item or report, so we leave with the CIV monthly financial.

1:06

Good morning.

1:07

Thank you.

1:08

Uh July 2026.

1:10

Um finished with revenues net of expenses of a negative 1.7 million dollars, uh, which is about $3.6 million less than prior year.

1:18

Um there are multiple line items that um make up the that varies.

1:23

Um mainly admissions tax line, parts and supplies, field house operating expenses, and capital outlays, um, which I'll go into more detail later.

1:32

Um so into the details, tax revenues totaled just under $13 million, um, which is about $600,000 less than prior year, and also the average monthly average.

1:44

Um largest variance there is in the admissions tax line, um, which is about $1.8 million less than the prior year.

1:51

Um, and that variance is mainly due to the timing variance that we see with how the admissions tax is being paid by one of our partners, um, the Colts.

2:01

Um the operating revenue, it was $2.7 million.

2:06

Um, and that is less than the prior year by about $1.2 million or $32%.

2:12

Um, and that um that unfavorable variance there is uh nearly across the board, and it's um just due to some of the events that we had um this year versus prior year.

2:24

Um on the expense side, personal services has a favorable variance, and that is um $218,000 or about 9% versus the prior year.

2:35

Um, and mainly that can is in two line items the part-time temporary labor and also the employee medical insurance lines.

2:43

Um supplies category um is over uh prior year by 4.2 million dollars, and that is due to the parts and supplies line where we spent about $4.5 million in hotel expenses.

2:59

Um some of those expenses were or the larger expenses there were $345,000 we spent on emergency radio communication system, $226,000 on laundry equipment, and then um there were some disputed construction costs that we um uh spent about $3.9 million um there on that.

3:24

So um next is other services, and that is $8.3 million dollars, um, which is roughly $3.3 million or $67 million or 67% more than prior year.

3:36

Um that unfavorable variance um is likely made up of two line items.

3:41

Um we paid 230 million 230,000 dollars in booking fees for the Morgan Wallen um concert, and then also 221,000 to art strategies for hotel art acquisition and consulting.

3:56

Um the other line item is miscellaneous rental expenses.

3:59

There we paid about six hundred thousand dollars for um equipment rentals for the final four.

4:07

Um finally um the prior year um field house operating expenses.

4:13

Um that in the prior year was extremely low.

4:16

Um this year it was a normal amount, but because the prior year was so low, um there it was low because we had a correction in the prior year due to our capitalization of some technical equipment.

4:28

Um so since that was so low it made this um year variants um look different.

4:35

Um capital outlay um total six hundred and forty-two thousand dollars, which is extremely low.

4:41

It's five point four million dollars less than the prior year.

4:45

Um the largest spend that we did have this month was three hundred and eighty-five thousand dollars on the field house fall protection system.

4:53

Uh debt services back to normal at 1.2 million dollars for the month.

5:00

That's right, in line with the budget and the payment schedule.

5:03

Bottom line for the month.

5:04

It's a little bit lower than normal for July due to some construction costs, consultant fees, and then equipment rental expense.

5:13

And the majority of those are offset by the low cap spins that we had.

5:22

People have any questions for Tim.

5:25

Thank you.

5:26

Next item on the agenda is the visit in report.

5:31

Thank you, uh President Redick.

5:33

I'll go real quick in the couple of slides we have in the deck, and then we'll go to this report on ASAE.

5:41

Hotel market performance for July.

5:44

Green is good on these reports.

5:45

There's a lot of green.

5:48

The month of July, we set all-time records for Marion County, downtown Indy, and the outside of downtown as well for room sold for Marion County for revenue for Marion County for average daily rate for revenue for available room.

6:03

We're also at all-time records year to date.

6:06

That's the all-time record for the month of July, not necessarily any month.

6:09

And then year to date, we're setting it all-time records right now for demand revenue, uh, average daily rate and uh rev par available room.

6:17

In particular, I was really happy with the July occupancy numbers.

6:21

Uh the occupancy for the county as a whole was narrowly 72%.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Tourism Management█████████████████████████████████████████████65%
Procedural██████████14%
Construction Projects███████10%
Budget██████8%
Public Works██3%
Summary of Proceedings

Capital Improvements Board Meeting – September 11, 2026

The Capital Improvements Board (CIB) met on September 11, 2026, to approve minutes, receive financial and operational reports from staff and partner organizations, vote on claims, and hear updates on major construction projects. The meeting opened with a recognition of the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks and gratitude for first responders and the ability to gather in public spaces.

Consent Calendar

  • Approval of Minutes: The minutes from the previous meeting were approved by a voice vote with a motion and second, no opposition.

Discussion Items

  • CIB Monthly Financial Report (July 2026) – Presented by Tim:

    • Net revenues of negative $1.7 million, a decrease of $3.6 million compared to July 2025.
    • Tax revenues totaled just under $13 million (down $600,000), primarily due to a $1.8 million drop in admissions tax from the Colts' payment timing.
    • Operating revenue $2.7 million (down $1.2 million, 32%) due to event mix.
    • Personal services had a favorable variance of $218,000 (9%) from part-time labor and medical insurance.
    • Supplies increased $4.2 million, including $345,000 for emergency radio communication, $226,000 for laundry equipment, and $3.9 million in disputed construction costs.
    • Other services $8.3 million (up $3.3 million, 67%) – included $230,000 booking fees for Morgan Wallen concert, $221,000 for hotel art consulting, and $600,000 equipment rentals for the Final Four.
    • Capital outlay $642,000 (down $5.4 million); largest item $385,000 for field house fall protection system.
    • Debt service $1.2 million, consistent with budget.

  • Visit Indy Report – Presented by Leonard:

    • July 2026 set all-time records for room sold, revenue, average daily rate (ADR), and revenue per available room (RevPAR) for Marion County, downtown Indianapolis, and areas outside downtown.
    • County occupancy 72%, downtown 73%, outside downtown 71% – noted as especially strong with increased inventory.
    • Year-to-date downtown occupancy 67%, revenue up 6.3%, RevPAR up 6%.
    • Marion County revenue growth (8%) outpaced U.S. growth (5.9%).
    • ASAE Conference (August 2026): Record post-pandemic attendance; conservative economic impact estimate of $7.3 million (customer reported $13–15 million). The event is expected to generate over $1 billion in lead room nights. 71% of the 5,311 attendees were decision-makers, and 32% had never visited Indianapolis. CIB provided 40% of funding; additional $1 million raised through partnerships.
    • A new marketing video (narrated by the Victory statue) was shown and received positive feedback.

  • KDA/Bridget Center Report – Presented by Mike:

    • August 2026 occupancy 57.6% (record for August); attendance 91,480 (second highest, record 96,480 in 2023).
    • September events: National Safety Council (building-wide, 10,000+ attendees), Do It Best fall market (building-wide).
    • October events: American Dental Association, FFA, National Society of Hispanic Engineers (first-time group).
    • Only four dark days remaining for the year.

  • Lucas Oil Stadium Report – Presented by Eric:

    • Bruno Mars concert sold out; production was out by 2:30 AM. Promoters expressed interest in a residency due to ease of operations and fan response.
    • Upcoming events: Colts 5K, preseason games, regular season games (Ravens, Texans), Gleaners Huddle Against Hunger, Monumental 5K, Playbook View Football, Circle City Classic (reformatted), Rolls Royce private event.
    • Tight turnovers and heavy staff workload noted.

  • Construction Projects Update – Presented by Mandy:

    • Cygnia Hotel: Substantial completion on October 6, 2026. Opening in December 2026 with rooms available for Big Ten Championship. First 400 rooms furnished; punch lists underway. A third-party restaurant on the northeast corner (Illinois and Georgia) is not yet leased, so exterior work there will continue into 2027.
    • Georgia Street: Ribbon cutting scheduled for October 2, 2026. Trees will be planted in November; the street will be open for pedestrian use after ribbon cutting.
    • Connector to Cygnia: Will be usable before hotel opens, with ongoing exterior work.
    • Coordination challenges on Capitol Street due to multiple projects (Union Station, connector, loading dock traffic).

Key Outcomes

  • Claims Approved (roll call vote):
    • Operating expense vouchers: $7,082,796.78
    • Confirming vouchers: $2,735,106.74
    • All members present voted yes.
  • No other business was discussed. There were no public comments. The meeting adjourned.

Meeting Transcript

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for being here. I'd like to call the capital approvements boarding county to order. This being 9 11, I think it's important that the rest are recognized it's the 25th anniversary of that date. There'll be people a lot more eloquent than I am here. We're gonna talk about this today, but I guess two thoughts come to mind. First, I think we all remain forever grateful to the first responders and to everyone who's helped over the years and continue to help on that uh tragic day. And then I think we're all pretty grateful in this room uh that we can gather in public spaces, public spaces at the CIB on the public spaces in our community, and they all mean a lot to us, so I'll just say that and get down to this. So the first item on the agenda is approval of minutes for the month of the first meeting. So there is second second. Any opposed? Okay, thank you. Next item or report, so we leave with the CIV monthly financial. Good morning. Thank you. Uh July 2026. Um finished with revenues net of expenses of a negative 1.7 million dollars, uh, which is about $3.6 million less than prior year. Um there are multiple line items that um make up the that varies. Um mainly admissions tax line, parts and supplies, field house operating expenses, and capital outlays, um, which I'll go into more detail later. Um so into the details, tax revenues totaled just under $13 million, um, which is about $600,000 less than prior year, and also the average monthly average. Um largest variance there is in the admissions tax line, um, which is about $1.8 million less than the prior year. Um, and that variance is mainly due to the timing variance that we see with how the admissions tax is being paid by one of our partners, um, the Colts. Um the operating revenue, it was $2.7 million. Um, and that is less than the prior year by about $1.2 million or $32%. Um, and that um that unfavorable variance there is uh nearly across the board, and it's um just due to some of the events that we had um this year versus prior year. Um on the expense side, personal services has a favorable variance, and that is um $218,000 or about 9% versus the prior year. Um, and mainly that can is in two line items the part-time temporary labor and also the employee medical insurance lines. Um supplies category um is over uh prior year by 4.2 million dollars, and that is due to the parts and supplies line where we spent about $4.5 million in hotel expenses. Um some of those expenses were or the larger expenses there were $345,000 we spent on emergency radio communication system, $226,000 on laundry equipment, and then um there were some disputed construction costs that we um uh spent about $3.9 million um there on that. So um next is other services, and that is $8.3 million dollars, um, which is roughly $3.3 million or $67 million or 67% more than prior year. Um that unfavorable variance um is likely made up of two line items. Um we paid 230 million 230,000 dollars in booking fees for the Morgan Wallen um concert, and then also 221,000 to art strategies for hotel art acquisition and consulting. Um the other line item is miscellaneous rental expenses. There we paid about six hundred thousand dollars for um equipment rentals for the final four. Um finally um the prior year um field house operating expenses. Um that in the prior year was extremely low. Um this year it was a normal amount, but because the prior year was so low, um there it was low because we had a correction in the prior year due to our capitalization of some technical equipment. Um so since that was so low it made this um year variants um look different. Um capital outlay um total six hundred and forty-two thousand dollars, which is extremely low. It's five point four million dollars less than the prior year. Um the largest spend that we did have this month was three hundred and eighty-five thousand dollars on the field house fall protection system. Uh debt services back to normal at 1.2 million dollars for the month. That's right, in line with the budget and the payment schedule. Bottom line for the month. It's a little bit lower than normal for July due to some construction costs, consultant fees, and then equipment rental expense. And the majority of those are offset by the low cap spins that we had. People have any questions for Tim. Thank you. Next item on the agenda is the visit in report. Thank you, uh President Redick.

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