INDIANAPOLIS—This Midwest city is well known as a hub for national distributors, but its downtown office market has also begun to draw a lot of attention. After a few very rough years during the recession, new companies seeking youthful workers have started moving into the CBD, and institutional investors are snapping up the city's top office towers.

From 2007 through 2011, no investment activity was seen among the class A or trophy properties, according to JLL's Spring 2015 Indianapolis Skyline Review, its study of the top twelve downtown office properties. But in the last three years, 40% of the Skyline properties have traded hands, even though some of these buildings were struggling. In 2014, New York-based Nightingale Properties purchased the 36-story, 696,000 square foot Regions Tower, and the 515,000 square foot Market Tower was bought out of foreclosure by Chicago-based Zeller Realty Group.

“Zeller knows this market really well,” Adam Broderick, JLL executive vice president, tells GlobeSt.com, and if it's willing to buy here, it's a sign that the CBD is leaving the doldrums behind. The recession forced financial companies and law firms here to downsize, but other users such as tech firms have moved in to fill the gaps.