City and business officials today marked the start of a $155 million hotel-retail-apartment project Downtown.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the city-subsidized project drew a host of public and private leaders, including Mayor Greg Ballard and Eli Lilly and Co. Chief Executive John Lechleiter.

They posed in suits and hard hats to dig their engraved silver shovels into a patch of freshly turned earth on the 14-acre construction site, at Alabama and South streets.

The mixed-use project, originally called North of South, has been renamed CityWay, said Brad Chambers, president of Buckingham Cos. of Indianapolis , the lead developer and construction manager.

From a tent pitched on the site, Chambers told more than 75 people, including new Indiana  Pacers head coach Frank Vogel, that the project will be “a trend-setting model for urban living.”

The mayor and City-County Council decided to float bonds to help finance the project as a way to spur commercial development between Downtown and the Lilly corporate campus.

CityWay will include a 152-rooom Dolce-brand hotel, 320 apartments, retail and office space and a full-service YMCA. It will open in late 2012 or early 2013, except for the YMCA, which may not open until 2014.

Call Star reporter Jeff Swiatek at (317) 444-6483.

Original Article