INDIANAPOLIS — It's been more than 150 years since anyone has given any serious thought on what to make of 15 acres of prime real estate bordered by Michigan, New York and Randolph streets on the city’s near east side. When it opened at that location in 1873, the Indiana Women's Prison was th e first penitentiary for female offenders in the United States. The prison closed in 2009, the Indiana Department of Correction repurposed the site for a few years only to mothball it for good in 2017 and Woodruff Place and Willard Park neighbors have waited for years to have a say about what should be done with the empty land in their midst. They will finally get their chance in the months to come as the Metropolitan Development Commission has contracted with the Urban Land Institute to lead a two-day session with planners and researchers later this month to determine what would work best on the site for generations to come. ”They have engaged a group of professionals with expertise in planning, historic preservation, design, environmental issues,” said Will Pritchard of the Women's Prison Alliance. ”They will produce a recommendation for the site of a specific use or set of uses.” Pritchard said the anticipated final demolition of the prison buildings gives planners and neighbors a blank slate to realize their visions. ”Personally, I think it's best suited for a residential purpose because it's surrounded by single-family homes,” he said. ”We also have a need for more affordable housing in the neighborhood, so I think it ought to be more residential. ”This is 15 acres. It's probably one of the largest vacant sites this close to downtown. It's only two miles from downtown. You could fit probably 150 homes on this site, so this is transformative for the neighborhood.” The City has made major improvements to Michigan and New York streets to make them more pedestrian and bicyclist-friendly. Considering its been a century-and-a-half since anyone drew up plans for the plot, Pritchard said the neighbors are ready for a slow thoughtful process to get the next stage of near eastside development right for decades to come. ”We don’t get many opportunities, and we need to make a really good decision,” he said. ”We gotta get it right because we haven’t had a chance in 150 years, so we finally have a chance, and we need to make a good decision.” ...read more read less