The owners of two vacant buildings and a fenced
lot along Washington Street downtown aren’t giving up on redevelopment even after their plans for a $40-million mixed-use
structure fell apart, IBJ reported in its print edition. A group called Uptown Realty Investors led by brokers John Demaree
and Bill Ehret is talking with potential restaurant tenants to anchor a new project that likely also would include apartments
or office space. The plan involves the McQuat Building at 14 E. Washington St., the H&H Mart Building at 10 E. Washington
St., and a vacant lot next door to the west. The brokers began acquiring pieces of the property about a decade ago, when they
bought the first two buildings, both since demolished. For the last two years the pair had been working on plans to build
a new, 10-story structure with a partner they declined to name. That deal fell through earlier this year, and now the owners
are hoping to land a tenant so they can redevelop the blighted stretch in time for Super Bowl festivities in 2012. The most
likely scenario is a renovated McQuat building and low-rise retail or restaurant space on the vacant lot and H&H Mart parcel
(Concept shown here). For the full story, pick up a copy of IBJ at your friendly neighborhood retailer.
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Welcome to Property Lines, Indy's source for neighborhood real estate news. Your host is Scott Olson, IBJ's real estate beat
reporter. Edited by Cory Schouten.
The owners of two vacant buildings and a fenced
lot along Washington Street downtown aren’t giving up on redevelopment even after their plans for a $40-million mixed-use
structure fell apart, IBJ reported in its print edition. A group called Uptown Realty Investors led by brokers John Demaree
and Bill Ehret is talking with potential restaurant tenants to anchor a new project that likely also would include apartments
or office space. The plan involves the McQuat Building at 14 E. Washington St., the H&H Mart Building at 10 E. Washington
St., and a vacant lot next door to the west. The brokers began acquiring pieces of the property about a decade ago, when they
bought the first two buildings, both since demolished. For the last two years the pair had been working on plans to build
a new, 10-story structure with a partner they declined to name. That deal fell through earlier this year, and now the owners
are hoping to land a tenant so they can redevelop the blighted stretch in time for Super Bowl festivities in 2012. The most
likely scenario is a renovated McQuat building and low-rise retail or restaurant space on the vacant lot and H&H Mart parcel
(Concept shown here). For the full story, pick up a copy of IBJ at your friendly neighborhood retailer.
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In my opinion the estridge companies are crooks. They filed bankruptcy on their 'track housing' side of the business two weeks before they closed on one of my clients' homes. When my client first interviewed Estridge as a builder 6 months before, they specifically ASKED about the solvency of their business, knowing that some builders were struggling. Estridge truly misrepresented their financial situation at that time. I suppose I am more unhappy with the whole system than I am with the builder because what the heck==you can file bankruptcy on 'track homes' but still keep building and make money off of 'custom built' homes??? How ridiculous! They are all homes. How can a company be allowed to bilk thousands of dollars from their subcontractors but still be allowed to build houses?? they should have been made to pay back all their unpaid contractors before being allowed to profit from building any more houses! This alone makes them and the system crooks in my eyes. I would never build an estridge home and I would not recommend for my clients either. If they were truly 'bankrupt' how could they afford to keep building homes anyway??? The whole system needs fixed.
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I live a couple blocks east of the Angie's campus and my house is assessed for ~$160,000. If I could get that amount, let alone $384,000 (a 140% bonus), I'd sell in a minute. Either Angie's stockholders just got fleeced, or Angie's is getting about a 58% discount on their property taxes, if these properties are actually worth what they paid Mr. Oesterle for them. Which do you think is the case?
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Perhaps the IMA board is really to blame! They agreed to hire Charles. They can't seemingly find donors among themselves, or bring in new blood that will support the museums operating budget with an expanded museum and money to provide curators with something to do (ie buy art). The headlines of disarray at the museum and mass firings are hurting the reputation of the museum for some time to come. If people on the board had misgivings, perhaps they shpuld have more forcefully opposed efforts that they have seemingly been unable to fund, like expansion and the costs it has created!
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See, I told u Indyman and Dipsicle....this 8 days is overkill. It's barely worth a weekend....great job Tony George! Your dream has been fulfilled....he fans want the I r l back. Thats how good it was.....and that sucked.
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I have been in training for a short time now but right off I can see that safety and quality are the number one issues, my experience as of late has been a positive one, the employees along with Jeff the plant manager and the operation supervisor as well as the engineers are a highly motivated group of people, what an asset for the area to have and for company's in need of a quality metal products.
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It is a nice old school structure.
I wonder though, what color would they paint it?
As for the empty space, this seems strange.
It is such an odd gap, like a missing tooth. Filling it in with a small structure just doesn't seem right.
I agree with CorrN to some level. I'd rather have a clean empty lot that could be properly filled in later than a quick built structure that doesn't belong on this part of Washington.
So plain, why don't they spruce it up a bit? Add some decorations or at least a more interesting cornice.
It looks cheap.
If not there should be. No one should be building a brand new minimum 2-story building right in the heart of downtown indianapolis next to two taller buildings. Something should be zoned to include that restriction.
When I was still with the City (back in 2004) I met with people trying pull a development off at this site (probably the same group, I can't remember) and at that time they were considering underground parking and a structure the same height as McQuat.
I agree with the other comments, either make it out-door seating for a restaurant, or don't build at all. Or, at a MINUMUM, design the low-rise to sustain the weight of a much taller structure once the need arises.
I sympathize with the developers attempting to make this project profitable even if just for the short-term; however, its proven that great cities build for the longterm. Suburan development styles do poorly in the urban core of cities. In fact I don't understand how a 2 story building would be capable of paying for the land - they must have gotten a bargain. This has the potential for BW3s downtown all over again.
Though it is a bit hard to comment on the cheapness or the ultimate design of this project. This is obviously a tester design and only an elevation. Hopefully Cory will be able to use his city pull to be able to secure some better drawings!