A couple of topics to discuss:
More praise for Trail
In its March newsletter, New York-based Project for Public Spaces named Indianapolis one of five "Great Cities" thanks to
the Cultural Trail project. The other cities are Melbourne, Zurich, Bogota and Hong Kong. The article is here. Hat tip to thundermutt, a blog regular.
Simon CEO says park improved
Simon Property Group CEO David Simon had some interesting remarks at the IU Business Conference this morning. He said the
company increasingly views its 379 malls, which boast 2.8 billion visits per year, as marketing vehicles. Simon also addressed complaints about how the company built its new headquarters on
what had been a park. He said he never saw anyone enjoying the park before the new building, but now it's full of people.
"I think we beautified it," he said.
The latest from Broad Ripple
A deal is in the works that could bring a new use to a prime Broad Ripple parcel on Guilford Avenue. The property between
Spin nightclub and Qdoba now is home to Quality Leasing Inc., which is owned by car dealer Tom Wood. If Quality Leasing can
find a new home, the owners might sell the building and adjacent parking lot. Retail/commercial broker Bob Enoch has a client
who has offered to buy the property. He would not name his client, but said it isn't another restaurant/bar. Brothers Bar
& Grill plans to open across the street.
And finally, don't miss ...
A couple of recent stories in the print IBJ might be of interest to Property Lines readers: We look at whether real estate
investment trusts are ready for a comeback;
and we talk with the city's new economic
development director, Nick Weber. Check out what he says about the Market Square Arena site.
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No one also seem to use Pan Am Plaza.
Nick sure doesn't sound like he's got much of a policy other than everything's on the table. :lol:
Oh well, I wish them the best, but don't expect much. Careful what you wish for people, you just might get it.
Is that sad? Maybe, to some people who are constantly lamenting the loss of every building that was built more than 50 years ago. When I was a young teenager, my mom worked as a waitress downtown after I got home from school. I went with her and walked downtown all night long. I know the buildings down there, I have a lot of memories in a lot of them. But if one has to go for making a better city, then so be it. let's keep the old building stock that makes sense, and the ones that don't, and people voluntarily agree to develop them in new ways, let's get it done.
I want this city to be great, and the attitude shown above continues to hold it back due to a small vocal minority of busybodies.
If Ballard had brought in a veteran of economic development activity under Goldsmith, we wouldn't be on hold. Instead he brought in a PR guy.
It doesn't exactly give me the warm fuzzies. It takes time to develop a strategy and to figure out how to implement it.
This is downtown. If you want greenspace, head over to Military Park and you will find no one using that park either.
If this kid is 33, and he worked under Goldsmith, that makes him 25 (8 years ago) at the oldest. Maybe he wrote press releases in the waning lame duck days of Steve's glory years as Mayor?
That's what scares me: This kid's clearly not a veteran of anything except for writing checks at fundraisers and writing vague pr-ish press releases.
Ballard: Not ready for prime time.
SIMON IS NOT YOUR FRIEND; SIMON IS NOT A FRIEND TO THIS CITY OR ANY OTHER CITY. SIMON IS NOT A GOOD COMPANY, SIMON IS A BILLION DOLLAR MONSTER, THEY WILL RAPE AND DESECRATE ANYTHING THEY GET THERE HANDS ON.
The park everyone makes mention of where the Simons built is constructed on top of a parking garage. The city did everyone a favor a long time ago and put a park on top of the garage, but it was always meant to be developed. The garage was built with that in mind. I did like the park, and still do.
Now, the people who are making a big deal about the hill next to the parking garage on the canal need to pick their fights better. There are a lot of underused parks downtown (and yes, Military Park, and White River State Park are downtown, I don't care if they're west of West St.). The Pan Am Plaza is underused (My heart still aches for the Intercontinental). Let's develop the hill and block the view of the parking garage. As for a park dedicated to Lincoln, okay, let's find an area where one of our greatest presidents doesn't sit in the shadow of a massive parking garage.
By the way, I'm sure most of you probably saw it, but the Urban Times reported that the Front Page on Mass Ave is planning an expansion. They are taking over the space formerly occupied by Cord Camera.
On a completely different topic, I realize in the age of blogs and emails, people have let their spelling, grammar and sentence structures go to waste. But if you are taking the time to post something on a blog, I would think you would want people to actually be able to read and understand it...
If we tear down every victorian structure in the city that isn't 'historic' we will lose the charm(not to mention chunks of our local culture and history) that attracted many residents to downtown in the first place.
That site was never planned to stay a 'park'. The intention was to always put a building there, and don't be surprised when another complex goes up just south of the Simon building. It's an underground parking garage below waiting for development above. Get over it.
WTF is wrong with you whiney azzed folk?
They have the option, as they have always had, of building a building on that site within the parameters of the zoning Ordinance without impacting the surrounding uses. At this point, they have made a choice not to do so.
I agree that two parts of that definition are a little gray: when Lucas Oil Stadium opens south of South Street, I think that whole swath of the city down to I-70 will more commonly be thought of as downtown. And the area north of I-65 to about 21st St. which includes Methodist Hospital, three TV station headquarters, the Cathedral complex and a couple of high-rise apartment buildings certainly has elements of downtown.
The newest Regional Center plan extends to 16th St. on the north, White River on the west, and I-70 on the south. So that's the official definition.