Hendricks Commercial Properties has won Indiana Landmarks’ 2023 Cook Cup for Outstanding Restoration for its transformation of the former Coca-Cola Bottling Plant into the centerpiece of the Bottleworks District, a $300 million, 12-acre culinary, arts, and entertainment hub in downtown Indianapolis.

Jim and Lee Yuncker opened Indianapolis’s Coca-Cola Bottling Plant in 1931 on a site where they had been bottling ginger ale and other soft drinks since the early 1900s. When the Yunckers began bottling Coca-Cola, they hired the notable Indianapolis architectural firm Rubush & Hunter to design their new plant. The result was an Art Deco showpiece, with a gleaming white terra cotta façade, bronze storefronts, terrazzo flooring, colorful tile walls, and the brand’s ionic script logo in gold-leaf lettering.

Additions in the 1940s and ’50s further expanded the production facility before bottling operations moved out in the ’60s. Indianapolis Public Schools bought the property in 1968 and used it as a support building for buses and storage. In 2016, Hendricks Commercial Properties’ proposal to redevelop the site as a multi-use complex won approval by the City of Indianapolis.

“Everyone working on it had a sense of pride in what they were doing and understood these buildings’ importance to the community,” says Gavin Thomas, Hendricks’ vice president of development. “We were very much interested in doing the right thing and setting the bar high, which was a big driver of the results.”

Despite opening during a pandemic, the Bottleworks Hotel and district has thrived, attracting visitors from around the world. Development continues on the remainder of the site, with plans for additional parking, retail, offices, and housing that will reconnect the site to the surrounding vibrant historic neighborhoods.

“Hendricks’ adaptation of the former Coca-Cola Bottling Plant is a transformative project that exemplifies superior preservation practice and economic revitalization,” says Marsh Davis, president of Indiana Landmarks.

In turning the former industrial building into a 139-room boutique hotel, project architect RATIO took pains to respect the building’s historic character. The Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission, Indiana Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology, and National Park Service reviewed and approved plans for the project, which used federal Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits. Shiel Sexton and Hagerman served as contractors for the development.

“It was about really trying to understand the building and working with it instead of against it,” says David Kroll, RATIO’s principal and director of preservation.

The lavishly tiled hotel lobby was originally the filler room, designed to provide public views of the automatic bottle-filling machines. As part of rehabilitation, workers removed concrete blocks from the street-facing windows and replicated the original bronze storefront. A local ceramicist restored the original bold-colored tiling.

Historic architectural plans and photos provided references for historic details. Today, historic photos line the hotel hallways alongside modern images, including portraits of workers who were part of the building’s restoration.

To allow for more guest rooms, the team created a third-floor addition and removed part of the roof, resulting in an open-air courtyard ringed by rooms on the second and third floors.

Each year, Indiana Landmarks awards the Cook Cup to the property owner who follows the highest standards of restoration in transforming a significant historic building, with positive impact on the neighborhood or community. Indiana Landmarks created the Cook Cup for Outstanding Restoration in 2007, when the inaugural prize went to the award’s namesake family in honor of its transformation of the West Baden and French Lick Springs hotels in southern Indiana. The Cook family is nationally recognized for their many restorations of significant landmarks throughout Indiana.

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MEDIA CONTACTS:
Mindi Woolman, Indiana Landmarks, 317-639-4534, 317-417-1204 (cell), mwoolman@indianalandmarks.org

Indiana Landmarks revitalizes communities, strengthens connections to our diverse heritage, and saves meaningful places. With nine offices located throughout the state, Indiana Landmarks helps people rescue endangered landmarks and restore historic neighborhoods and downtowns. People who join Indiana Landmarks receive its bimonthly magazine, Indiana Preservation. For more information on the not-for-profit organization, call 317-639-4534, 800-450-4534, or visit www.indianalandmarks.org.