How Indianapolis has recovered three years after the start of COVID-19 pandemic

INDIANAPOLIS — Three years ago today, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb announced the stay-at-home order due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although it drastically changed the way daily lives looked at the time, much of life has gone back to normal.

Pre-pandemic, about 30 million people visited Indianapolis and roughly 83,000 workers were relying on those visitors to make a living.

“When we look at major cities around the United States, we are 10 to 12 percentage points higher in pulling in visitors and booking more future conventions,” Visit Indy's Chris Gahl said.

This leaves the question of what downtown Indianapolis will look like in the future.

The President and CEO of Downtown Indy Inc., Taylor Schaffer, told WRTV that she predicts the Circle City to become more residential than it is now.

"I think in five or 10 years from now, downtown will look even more like a neighborhood,” Schaffer said.

Downtown Indy Inc. expects there to be movement on the expansion of the Indiana Convention Center.

As far as the progress on the new Signia Hotel on Pan Am Plaza goes, Visit Indy says they expect the 40-story, 800-room hotel to be opened by 2026.