Gen Con | Gen Con Indy 2025

Hello all. A proposed new hotel - Signia, to be run by Hilton and constructed in the Pan Am Plaza next to the convention center - has just gotten $625 million in Indianapolis city bonds approved:

"Indianapolis City-County Council votes yes to $625M funding of Signia Hotel" (Indianapolis ABC affiliate WRTV)

On the local level, there are concerns about the project. An Indianapolis Business Journal article gives a good overview of the debate: "City’s big bet on a publicly owned Signia by Hilton worries other hoteliers".

Bottom line: There are questions about the city using bonds for funding, there's concern that the city is overpaying, there are concerns about the hotel being ultimately owned and run by the city, and so on.

But for Gen Con attendees, having yet another large hotel directly connected to the ICC would be a boon (Edit: Presumably connected. It's closer to the Omni Severin than the ICC, but a future convention center expansion would put a wing right next to it. At that distance, it'd be questionable not to connect). It wouldn't be quite as big as the 1013 room JW Marriott, but 800 rooms would make it the second biggest hotel in the downtown area. As a comparison, TripAdvisor reports 575 rooms for the Westin, 650 for the other Marriott, 499 for the Hyatt Regency, 273 for the Crowne Plaza, and 424 for the Omni Severin.

However, it's early in the project. I found no dates for the start of construction or estimates for completion. That IBJ article above states that construction was postponed due to the pandemic, but nothing states real dates for even breaking ground, let alone opening the doors. So this is still nowhere near being realized.

But funding has been apportioned. It may not be ready for us for years yet, but it looks like it's moving forward. And 800 rooms would be a welcome addition downtown.