The Belmont Beach Story: How Visit Indy Helped a Neighborhood Reclaim its Riverfront
Visit Indy roots its vision for change in a powerful mission: destination development can mean healing a place, not just promoting it. Learn how Visit Indy built foundational change that powered social growth in one of Indianapolis’s forgotten, historic neighborhoods.
Brad Beaubien’s connection to Belmont Beach began before he joined Visit Indy as their VP of Destination Development, when he worked as a city planner in local government. In that role, he led a regional plan focused on the White River, Indianapolis’s primary resource and waterfront, and connected with a local professor who unveiled a harsh truth about some of its history.
A Beach Built by Redlining
When Indianapolis began developing, the racial practice of redlining carved out sections of Indianapolis’s landscape. Among these redlined neighborhoods was Haughville, a predominantly Black community and home to Belmont Beach, a segregated beach with waters heavily polluted by chemical runoff from factories and animal waste from slaughterhouses.
Over time, the beach was abandoned. Eventually, weeds overtook the waterfront and blocked all sight of the waters of the White River. This was the Belmont Beach that the community knew, overgrown and lost to time.
Clearing the Paperwork Before the Weeds
When Beaubien transitioned to Visit Indy, the story of Belmont Beach followed him. One of his first projects? A $100,000 grant to develop a temporary pop-up park along Belmont Beach, where a community so desperately needed one.
As a DMO, Beaubien and his Visit Indy team utilized their understanding of the bureaucratic side of development to negotiate the land leases with the Airport Authority, acquire public insurance, and apply for funding for materials. Once the weeds of documentation were removed, the weeds of Haughville’s riverfront were next.
Building Trust & Breaking Ground
Visit Indy showed up ready with resources to transform the neighborhood space; however, their presence brought unease to residents who feared gentrification. In turn, the community was hesitant to celebrate the promised park.
Knowing that trust is essential to building relationships with communities, Visit Indy connected with trusted neighborhood-based organizations, like Indy Convergence, an arts collective connected through the Arts Council, who helped with outreach and neighborhood recruitment. This choice softened their imposing presence, and soon, the Visit Indy team was greeted with more than just excitement.
From Pop-Up to Permanent
Though never meant to be permanent, Belmont Beach had become a staple, with performances, screenings, and dedicated neighbors.
It was clear Haughville had wanted a space like this. It had the story, the passion, and the volunteers, but before Visit Indy, it hadn’t had the financial resources or connections to bring it to life. Its temporary status became hard to justify.
The Airport Authority and the project’s original funder agreed: Haughville’s park needed a long-term future. Getting there took more than goodwill. The Airport Authority worked through the FAA to clear the land for sale, while Visit Indy brought in a Chicago master planner to map out a permanent Belmont Beach.
Visit Indy helped the neighborhood group behind the park’s programming incorporate as Friends of Belmont Beach, a 501(c)(3), giving residents a formal structure to steer the park on their own terms. From there, Tourism Tomorrow, Visit Indy’s nonprofit arm, bought the land and gifted it to Indy Parks. Visit Indy cleared the weeds so the community had a path to own the project; that handoff was part of Beaubien’s plan from the beginning.
“You know, for big events, I had to be there on the ground, but I always tried to be invisible. And what’s really cool is if you listen to the origin story of this project from the neighbor’s perspective, [Visit Indy’s] nowhere in it.” -Beaubien
Though the success of Belmont Beach came in numbers – increased foot traffic collected through placer data – the Visit Indy team saw success in the community’s embrace of the park. Today, the park serves as a learning space for the nearby school, an arts venue featuring spoken-word poetry, a living memorial to the grounds’ history, and a promise to Haughville’s future.
And that future is already taking shape. Project leaders took a $20 million EPA grant package that was constructed under Biden and had met a stagnant state following the administration change, and repackaged it for the Bezos Earth Fund. When the Visit Indy team was awarded a 3-year $10 million grant, the celebration could be heard all the way down the White River to Haughville.
What started as a small effort to give a neighborhood back its beach has grown into one of the most significant investments in Haughville’s riverfront in generations.
Redefining What Destination Impact Looks Like
When a destination’s impact is narrowly defined by numbers, the emotional impact felt by a community can get lost. Visit Indy saw an invaluable impact on their destination when change was recontextualized to include the perspectives of their community residents.
Honoring history with a promise for a better future is change. Stretching out a hand to unite neighborhoods is change. And 20 people staying up all night to build a basketball court is change.
Laying the foundation so that people can build communities that feel like home, that’s Visit Indy’s mission. By letting the community lead, Visit Indy puts change in the hands of the people who benefit from it. In doing so, they become an invisible string that ties together the neighborhoods that make up a destination, and that connection can lead to immeasurable growth.
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