INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis-based Keystone Group, the company working to develop Eleven Park, made claims Thursday that the City was backing out of a "good-faith" deal. This came hours before Mayor Joe Hogsett announced an effort to bring an MLS team to Indy. Eleven Park Since being announced in June of 2022, Keystone has been working to develop a $1 billion 18-acre complex on the western border of downtown Indianapolis. The complex was to be centered around a 20,000-seat multipurpose stadium intended to serve as the home field for the Indy Eleven USL Championship soccer team. According to previous reports, Eleven Park was planned to include 600+ apartments, a music venue, retail and office space, green spaces and a public parking garage. The complex was to be built between some of the city’s major sports venues, Victory Field and Lucas Oil Stadium. Construction began on the complex in 2023 after a subsidiary of Keystone Corp. purchased the Diamond Chain manufacturing site at 402 Kentucky Avenue. Construction crews have since torn down the former building. During this process, human remains were found on the site. According to projections at the beginning of construction, developers expected that Indy Eleven would begin playing games at the complex in the Summer of 2025. Now, Keystone Group is claiming that the plans are in jeopardy. The group said Thursday, it is due to the City of Indianapolis pulling out of a previously agreed-upon deal. 'Preparing to walk away' In a news release sent Thursday, Keystone Group said that Indy Mayor Joe Hogsett is in the process of walking away from what they called "years of good-faith negotiations." "Unfortunately, after recent bipartisan approvals from the City-County Council, Mayor Joe Hogsett's administration is preparing to walk away from the state and city leaders who entrusted him with this project and the neighborhoods who are depending on the progress Eleven Park represents," the release read. In the statement, Keystone said that the company is still committed to bringing a "transformational project" and "vibrant community space" to a "long-neglected" part of Indianapolis. The group also claimed that the project, despite doubling in budget from around $500 million to $1 billion, had a developer-guaranteed partnership that wouldn't pose any new taxes to Indy residents. They called Hogsett's alleged decision "troubling," "disappointing," and "concerning." "This is more than disappointing – it's a shocking reversal of Mayor Hogsett's public support for this project at the 2023 groundbreaking, for the dozens of local investors in this team, the thousands of Marion County jobs committed by Indiana companies who have been working on this project, and the tens of thousands of Indy Eleven fans in Indiana and across the country," the group said. The release from the developer concluded by urging Hogsett to reconsider the deal. For Keystone Group's full statement on the allegations, scroll to the bottom of this article. Hogsett's response Mayor Hogsett held a press conference at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, previewing the event as a "major announcement" for the future of Indy sports. Before the conference, Hogsett's officials spoke to reporters and explained that there was reportedly never a solidified deal made between the City and Keystone Group. Rather, Hogsett’s office said that there was a proposal made between Keystone and Indy Eleven and nothing more. This is despite the fact that Hogsett himself attended an event surrounding the development of Eleven Park, which officials said was not a city endorsement of the project. Hogsett's office reiterated before the conference that the city is not “walking away” from anything, but did not provide any further information regarding Keystone's allegations. Then, in Hogsett's actual news conference an hour later, the Mayor announced the city's recent efforts to bring a Major League Soccer team to Indy. Hogsett then exited the stage without taking questions. The proposed stadium site for the hypothetical MLS team is also in the downtown area on Pearl Street. For more information on the announcement and Hogsett's plans to woo the MLS to the Circle City, click here. Keystone's full statement Below is the full statement sent by Keystone Group to media on Thursday: "More than a decade ago, Indy Eleven built on a solid grassroots foundation to launch modern professional soccer in Indiana. Since then,  Indy Eleven has worked diligently to secure the Indiana General Assembly's first authorization for a soccer-specific facility in the state, engaged in a city-wide site selection process for that stadium's home, and acquired at its own expense a key riverfront property that presents a unique opportunity to reconnect the Near Westside of Indianapolis to downtown. The end result is Eleven Park: a transformational project that would bring more than just an MLS-eligible stadium to our state capital, but also the kind of mixed-use development and vibrant community space representing the highest and best use for this long-neglected part of our city. Indy Eleven and private development partners have been, and remain, ready to bring this vision to reality with a fiscally-responsible, developer-guaranteed partnership that won't require one penny in new taxes. Unfortunately, after years of good-faith negotiations, and recent bipartisan approvals from the City-County Council, Mayor Joe Hogsett's administration is preparing to walk away from the state and city leaders who entrusted him with this project and the neighborhoods who are depending on the progress Eleven Park represents. In December, Mayor Hogsett's administration submitted a Professional Sports Development Area map for Eleven Park and urged its approval. As a result, every single Republican and Democrat caucus member on the City-County Council voted to approve this map. In recent weeks, both Indy Eleven and City-County Council leadership have become aware that the Mayor's Office has refused to submit this PSDA map to the State Budget Committee as called for by state law. Even more troubling, Indy Eleven and City-County Council leadership have become aware that for some time, Mayor Hogsett's negotiation team has been shopping the state legislation championed by Indy Eleven, working behind closed doors to offer publicly-owned real estate and public financing to the highest bidder, with assurances that neither the redevelopment of this riverfront parcel nor the continuation of the Indy Eleven as a team would be requirements for city support. This is more than disappointing – it's a shocking reversal of Mayor Hogsett's public support for this project at the 2023 groundbreaking, for the dozens of local investors in this team, the thousands of Marion County jobs committed by Indiana companies who have been working on this project, and the tens of thousands of Indy Eleven fans in Indiana and across the country. These actions by Mayor Hogsett's administration are a concerning departure from what the Indianapolis business community stands for: integrity, trust, and the expectation that one is true to their word. A dangerous precedent is being set for how city negotiators conduct themselves.  Indy Eleven and its partners urge Mayor Hogsett to retake the reins of this city's economic development strategy and redouble efforts to follow through on the promise he made to this community when he took the stage at last year's groundbreaking for Eleven Park. In so doing, he can restore hope to those who have entrusted him with the fates of this city's beloved professional soccer team, a reigning national champion women's soccer team, more than 18,000 Indy Eleven-affiliated youth soccer players, Indy Eleven's Professional Academy, and the future of the world's game in Indiana."