What to do with the old airport

A group of eighth grade girls from a local charter school spent all day Friday learning about real estate and developing plans for reuse of the old airport. The winning group pitched a hotel, water park and acquarium complex called Aqua-Tel. Their proposal, detailed down to a floorplan and wall finishes, will be presented to the airport’s CEO. Other ideas from students at the Kipp School included an amusement park and hotel called The 317 Getaway, an amusement center with a spa, ice rink and roller rink called Recreation/Escape/Skate and a casino-hotel called Bling Bling that would create hundreds of jobs and be built with “green” features. The annual event, organized by the Indianapolis Chapter of Commercial Real Estate Women, is designed to encourage more young women to enter the male-dominated field. I had the privilege of helping to judge the plans.