The security alarm sounds at 9:55 a.m. on a sunny Monday in May. The source of the high-pitched squeal is hard to pinpoint as it bounces off the barbed wire–topped walls that protect the lots of several nearby businesses. Most of the dignitaries, reporters, and even police officers gathered on the fresh blacktop in front of the new IMPD Northwest District headquarters between Lafayette Road and West 38th Street seem not to care or even notice. They just raise their voices over the incessant electronic scream.
The collective shrug underscores the reason for this gathering of 40 or so people—including Mayor Joe Hogsett, City-County Council President Vop Osili, and other local officials—for the ribbon-cutting ceremony of a state-of-the-art police station. It’s no secret that this area has seen a rise in crime over the past several decades as big-name retail, offices, and outside investment have fled. IMPD Northwest Commander Lorenzo Lewis mentions that this new space is conveniently located within minutes of about five major hotspots that he monitors daily.
But neither Lewis nor IMPD Chief Randal Taylor chose this location. Neither did the mayor or the City-County Council. The spot was selected by the man who owns the property and says he fronted millions of dollars to build the 14,000-square-foot facility complete with a holding cell, two interview rooms, evidence technician room, bicycle room, gym, kitchen, wellness room, and a 35-seat community space—the first purpose-built IMPD headquarters in almost 30 years. The benefactor is the only person not elected to office or in uniform seated beside the podium as the proceedings begin, and yet his name is on the lips of every person who steps to the microphone.
“A stakeholder came to us and said he wanted to do this for us,” says Lewis to the crowd. “We talk about community police, but forget how important our business owners and landlords are. Let me introduce Mr. Fabio de la Cruz.”
De la Cruz walks to the podium, put together in a crisp black suit, white shirt, and arrow-straight yellow-and-blue-striped tie. His salt-and-pepper hair is a bit too naturally curly to cooperate with an attempt at slicking it back. His pristine white teeth, perfectly aligned, are slightly large for his mouth, creating the effect of a smile even when the rest of his face seems strained. In a thick Argentinian accent, he tells the crowd that part of his commitment to the safety of the neighborhood is related to wanting that for his young son—even though both the boy and de la Cruz now live 1,000 miles away in Tampa. And while he speaks publicly about what this police station will do for the community, he doesn’t hesitate afterward to point out that “it is essential for me to have 200 agents in the heart of my neighborhood” to protect his investment.
All of this may seem like an elaborate production, and it is. In fact, his real name isn’t even Fabio de la Cruz. But the self-made real estate developer appears to have the resources to transform an entire neighborhood. The crowd applauds as de la Cruz helps wield a pair of oversized scissors to cut the ribbon, but the completion of this construction project is only the beginning of his plan to use $200 million, much of it his own cash, to redevelop more than 300 acres of property—including the largely abandoned Lafayette Square Mall—in the beleaguered westside neighborhood. He says he is doing so not as a high-minded philanthropic gesture, but rather because he wants to bolster investments he’s already made in the area. If it rejuvenates a once-vibrant commercial center, then all the better.
No one knows quite what to make of Mr. de la Cruz. The city is currently in the process of vetting him and his plans as part of the due process in considering his application for tax…
Read More: Fabio Goes Shopping At Lafayette Square – Indianapolis Monthly