DEVINGTON — If you've driven around Devington, you probably are aware of Devington Plaza. The once-full strip mall is empty, and has been for years, causing concern and disappointment from businesses nearby.
“Right now, you think of Devington, is it still there?" Merneatha Brazilio, owner of Devington Dental Office, said with a laugh.
Vibrant, energetic and full of life: that's what local business owners told WRTV Devington Plaza used to be.
“When I came in here, it was lively, lot of shops, stuff of that nature," Jimmy Penry, owner of Jimmy's Auto Service, said.
“The plaza was full… There was a post office, hardware store, pharmacy," Brazilio said. "There was everything there.”
Both of their businesses have sat right next to Devington Plaza for years. They've seen the area take a turn for the worse.
“The biggest thing that really hurt here is the fact that Kroger left," Penry explained.
“It just slowly started to lose various stores, they changed management companies, ownership, and with that it just went slowly down," Brazilio said. "Now, you just have an open, blighted area.”
Just this weekend, police were called to the plaza for an incident involving what neighbors said was a gathering of more than 50 cars.
“Since it’s been vacant, you get a lot of vandalism," Penry said. "We’ve been seeing that a lot lately.”
Community leaders want to see something changed. That's why they started the Devington Redevelopment Task Force, with the goal of ensuring any redevelopment aligns with the neighborhood's needs and values.
“Devington was once a hub of the east side of Indianapolis, and I think it can be restored to that luster," Keith Graves, City-County Councilmember for District 9, said.
He and the task force have been working with the city to transform the area into what it used to be.
“We know what we have here, it’s a true asset to our community," Graves stated. "And we’re not going to do anything that’s too soon.”
The most important thing to everyone involved, however, is that whatever is put there is a success for the neighborhood — and the community.
“We absolutely know that the right project is out there; we just have to be patient," Graves said.
“To have a place where people say, ‘Oh, I’ll go to Devington,'" Bazilio said.
“With the right things there, it will attract people to come to this neighborhood," Penry exclaimed.
The Devington Plaza Redevelopment Task Force is currently asking neighbors to fill out a community survey about what they want to see at the plaza.
You can take the survey at this link.
