INDIANAPOLIS — A Church’s Chicken restaurant on Indianapolis’ east side has been boarded up for years. It has turned into a dumping ground and parking lot.
Neighbors first shared their frustrations with RTV6 last month, and our story led to action.
The building in the 5100 block of E. Washington is still boarded up, but after our first story aired, Church’s Chicken sent someone to clean the place up. The owner of the property’s son also flew out from Arizona to check the place out and help facilitate change.
“I happened to see you on TV one day all the way in Arizona and you were talking about a piece of property my dad owns,” Greg Attaway said. “Go out there and take care of it - find out what you gotta find out and let's see how we can help.”
The property has fallen into disrepair. A complaint was made to the city after tires and trash started to fill the parking lot. After the RTV6 story, some of the mess has been cleaned up.
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Maintenance of the property is actually the responsibility of Church’s Chicken, which has a lease with Attaway’s father through 2024.
Church’s has the right to sublease the property.
The local real estate broker representing Church’s Chicken said in October that the company has been searching for someone to sublease, but hasn’t had any luck.
“It looks like momentum is at least taking place,” Allison Hazel said.
Hazel brought this issue to RTV6’s attention. She recently bought an apartment complex behind the property and wants to see the Church’s Chicken building turned into something useful.
“I think we might be looking at a possible market,” she said.
Hazel and Attaway spent the last two days meeting with potential investors around town to look for solutions.
Whoever enters into a sublease with Church’s Chicken will get a first buy option of the property when the lease expires in 2024.
The next step is getting inside the building — nobody can find the keys. Once they get inside, they will have a better idea of what it will take to get the business fixed up and get another business inside.
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