How does the “Nickel Plate Trail Strengthened by IU Health” grab ya?
Better get used to it.
It’s now the official name for the suburb’s 4.5-mile greenway.
And there’s more where that came from, as the Indiana University health care system tries to make a name for itself in Fishers.
IU Health signed a $7 million,15-year agreement with Fishers to attach its name and silver logo to five health, recreation or nutrition-related municipal buildings and events.
So the soon-to-be-completed Fishers community center will be called the Fishers Community Center Strengthened by IU Health, and the city’s Farmers Market, agricultural park and Spark! Fishers 5k run will also be strengthened by IU Health.
Mayor Scott Fadness said at a recent Public Works and Safety committee meeting the deal will “significantly reduce reliance on tax revenue” to operate parks programs.
The naming rights splurge by IU Health comes as it makes a major investment in Fishers services.
The health provider is constructing a $300 million expansion of its campus at 136th Street and I-69 in the Saxony area and expanding its services
throughout Fishers. The project will increase the size of the hospital grounds by 50% and includes stand-alone outpatient doctors’ offices across the suburb. The hospital will be named IU Health Fishers.
Fishers Director of Recreation and Wellness Jake Reardon-McSoley said the first five years of IU payments will go exclusively to getting the community center at 121st Street and Hoosier Road up and running. After that, the revenue will be dispersed to parks programs or buildings across the city.
The sponsorship contract allows IU to put its name on the 96th Street Nickel Plate bridge when it is completed but specifies that the sponsorship doesn’t extend to the Indianapolis or Noblesville legs of the trail.
The agreement is the largest yet nabbed by a consulting company hired by Fishers to find corporate partners for its “assets.” In the fall, the city renewed a $40,000 yearly contract for The Superlative Group, of Cleveland, to work with the Department of Parks and Recreation to land sponsors.
Last year, the consultant signed Meijer to a $105,000 sponsorship for both the Geist Half-Marathon and Spark Fishers, the city’s Fourth of July celebration, for two years.
The Superlative Group takes a 15% commission on the sponsorships.
Separately, the city and the Indy Fuel minor league hockey team signed a $4 million, 10-year contract with Forum Credit Union for the naming rights for the plaza outside the Fishers Event Center.
The city and Indy Fuel are still seeking a naming sponsor for the center.
