Seven years later, vacant Fishers Marsh store could have new life
How long does it take to repurpose a vacant big-box grocery store on a thriving commercial corridor in a wealthy suburb?
In Fishers, the answer is (possibly) seven years.
The Fishers City Council will consider a proposal Monday to convert a former Marsh grocery into a massive pickleball facility.
The store, at 116th Street and Brook School Road, was among seven Marsh stores in Hamilton County that closed in 2017 after the supermarket chain filed for bankruptcy.
If the council approves a zoning change and subsequent development plans, it will be the last of the shuttered stores in the county to be re-used.
A private developer described the project to the city planning staff as indoor recreation “that will feature stateof-the-art facilities to combine scheduling, social connectivity, and vision AI to deliver a unique pickleball recreational experience.”
The staff report does not identify the developer and no additional details were provided about the pickleball center in the 57,800-square-foot building.
The city council passed an ordinance after Marsh closed that required an additional layer of review if it were to be converted to anything other than another grocery store.
The site was used by the city’s health department in 2021 as a mass vaccination center during the Covid-19 pandemic, but no proposals for full-time development have been made to the city until now.
Other closed Marsh stores have already found new life.
This week, a Neimann Harvest Market opened at a former Marsh on 116th Street in Carmel. In Noblesville at State Road 32 and River Road, the Nexus apartments were built. Part of an exMarsh on State Road 37 in Noblesville, is an Urban Air Trampoline and Adventure Park.
At another closed Fishers Marsh site, 116th Street and Allisonville Road, Kroger recently broke ground on a new store.
The proposed pickleball courts will be the latest addition to the growing sport in Fishers.
The site is two miles away from a planned Fishers Community & Recreation Center at 121st Street and Hoosier Road and five miles from pickleball courts at Cyntheanne Park, located at 126th Street and Southeastern Parkway.
In addition, chain restaurant Chicken and Pickle plans to open at the Fishers District expansion, south of 116th Street and east of I-69, and Mashcraft Brewing, located on Allisonville Road, converted part of its parking lot into outdoor pickleball courts.
Roy G. Holland Memorial Park also has pickleball courts.
The city council meets Monday at 7 p.m. at Launch Fishers, 12175 Visionary Way.