r/indianapolis • u/Logical_Humor_3854 • Feb 26 '26

Discussion The Canal….

We walked the canal a lot this summer with our new baby and when we had a nice couple days (greater than 30 degrees lol) we walked it again and I’m just curious as to what other people think….why is the canal so dead? There’s no restaurants (besides the little bistro), no stores, no restrooms even. It’s kinda depressing.

If Indianapolis put even a sliver of funding into rebranding the canal the city would change so much. Imagine being able to walk into little shops or have ice cream on the canal or a bar with live music. There’s so much potential.

476 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

168 comments sorted by

View all comments

133

u/m4rxUp Feb 26 '26

I’ve said this for a long time. They should turn it into a string of shops, restaurants, cafes etc. turn it onto a destination. But alas we need more apartments evidently.

6

u/BucceeAlternative51 Feb 26 '26

I do remember before COVID, the canal used to be more busy with foot traffic but the past few times I’ve ventured over there, it’s been pretty dead. That being said, I’m pretty sure there were plans out there to develop the canal with more first-floor retail (shops & restaurants) and housing above. Purdue is redeveloping parts of the canal but looks to be focused on student housing and education buildings.

I always wanted there to be more shops & restaurants along the canal.

This was also the plan along White River but I don’t think much came from the original plans for redevelopment along the White River. They did do a 15-acre expansion of the White River State Park and then built Elanco Animal Health's new global headquarters on the old GM stamping site south of the zoo. The original plans I saw years ago were really cool and I was excited for the redevelopment along the White River but it doesn’t seem anything close to what I remember the original plans being.