Plans for developing the Hopewell South neighborhood on the old hospital site likely mean zoning changes to create density.
Hopewell is a planned neighborhood on and near the old IU Bloomington Hospital site downtown. The city bought the 24-acre property for $6.5 million.
It is developing the area in phases: Hopewell South, East, and West.
Read more: Unexpected expenses approved to address environmental issues at Hopewell
The city and its partner in the Hopewell neighborhood development, Flintlock Lab, presented potential outlines for Hopewell South on Monday in a public meeting.
Hopewell South’s boundaries follow First Street in the north, Rogers Street in the east, Wylie Street to the south, and includes areas west of Fairview Street.
Alli Thurmond Quinlan with Flintlock presented plans on Monday. She said almost half of Bloomington’s households are two people sleeping in one bed at night. This group, along with people living alone, accounts for most households in Bloomington.
“So, as we start to think about the most common size and format of house, it becomes clear very quickly why housing is typically too large, too expensive, and too far apart to fit the majority of the households that we actually need to be focusing on housing,” she said.
To address this, the city wants to create a Planned Unit Development, which would allow for specified zoning in an area. It first wants to pass a PUD for the blocks of Hopewell South that face Wylie Street. Block eight, while included, is planned for the Bloomington Police Station.
Quinlan said zoning solutions to fit more single-family homes and townhomes on Hopewell South include legalizing lot-splits and allowing for more small lot development.
She added legalizing alleyways as frontage for development also can double the number of units within a neighborhood block, potentially.
“It's entirely voluntary,” she added. “If you don't want anything built on your backyard, great, you don't have to.”
The city is using Hopewell South as a trial for these ideas. It wants to provide pre-approved home designs for developers, so the character of the neighborhood can be maintained. Quinlan said this also helps reduce entry-cost for local and smaller developers.
The city will present construction and zoning plans to Bloomington’s redevelopment commission this fall. Recruitment of developers and lenders will start in early 2026.
Quinlan said zoning and developing the Hopewell South neighborhood incrementally lets the city "test and calibrate" the code changes. And "people can go, and see, and touch before a larger code change."
Outcomes from Hopewell's development will be used to inform potential city-wide changes, Quinlan said.
