Locally based Browning Investments plans to develop
a 20-acre mix of hotels, office buildings, a medical center and retail space on a vacant former church property along North
Meridian Street in Carmel. Browning hopes to break ground this summer on the $10-million project, which will include a hotel
built by Dora Brothers Hospitality Corp. The land, which sits north of Main Street across from Hilton Garden Inn, previously
was owned by St. Christopher's Episcopal Church. A site plan (shown here, click for a larger version) shows one parcel has
been sold but it does not name tenants. The project will be called Meridian & Main, said Jamie Browning, the firm's vice president
of real estate development.
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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.
Locally based Browning Investments plans to develop
a 20-acre mix of hotels, office buildings, a medical center and retail space on a vacant former church property along North
Meridian Street in Carmel. Browning hopes to break ground this summer on the $10-million project, which will include a hotel
built by Dora Brothers Hospitality Corp. The land, which sits north of Main Street across from Hilton Garden Inn, previously
was owned by St. Christopher's Episcopal Church. A site plan (shown here, click for a larger version) shows one parcel has
been sold but it does not name tenants. The project will be called Meridian & Main, said Jamie Browning, the firm's vice president
of real estate development.
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Laura-the festivals and tastings are free. What does is strengthen the sense of community with activities. What are those empty lots doing for the Village? it's sad you can't see the good that this progress can do for the area. No one is requiring anyone to shop there. I guess you'd rather see a Dollar store move in or no, we'd rather see the property stand empty b/c change is out of the question.
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Read down to the part about Brizzi. Someone needs to subpoena his "purchases" of Red RockPictures and Cellstar and his corresponding bank records, I mean c'mon, I'd like to see his alcohol usage records, too. http://diana-vice.blogspot.com/2011_01_01_archive.html
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Wonder if my neighborhood can advertise our "retention" pond and act like it is a beach too?
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a new record at the '11 salebration until they realized that it was a futile effort to get their crapwagon moter and crapwagon car up speed. And then they just quietly slunk off into the night and never spoke of it again. Nothing to see here folks.
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millions for putting a company's bumper sticker on one of its Lolas. But you gotta take what you can get.
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It's going to be the typical N. Meridian mess of anti-pedestrian, awkward parking lots and bland, 1-sided buildings.
2007 - 877,213
2006 - 873,397
2005 - 868,913
2004 - 867,178
Yeah, they are running for the hills!
2007 - 261,661
2006 - 250,979
2005 - 240,000
2004 - 230,0000
More people are running to Hamilton though...
Sure more people move to Hamilton than Marion a year, no one is arguing that.
(And more people are running for Charlotte, NC than either Hamilton or Marion County.)
That was my point, but I guess I didn't make it simple enough. Math is easy and fun!
Ha ha. I think population growth around Indy is pretty good for a midwestern/rust belt city. Give it some credit.
As a BRip/MKNA res I wish Marion was planning for this kind of thing. It would keep me in Indy. Instead, I'm renting out the condo in the rip and moving to the City of Carmel! Better everything! Sorry Erich but ur utterly pathetic for thinking any developer would try and build this in Indy right now.
They might be progressive in their road-planning, but Carmel is obviously ultra-conservative and exclusive when it comes to lifestyle choice and demographic diversity.
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What makes people think this is a progressive development? It's a typical N. Meridian office/retail park surrounded by a sea of parking lots. Is it totally awesome just because it has a round-a-bout in front of it?
And Ivo, Erich is not utterly pathetic for thinking any developer would try and build this in Indy right now. Ralston Square, Penn Centre, and Legends District SODO are all downtown Indianapolis projects on the table right now that are far more progressive than the Browning development.
Indy and Carmel are two totally different animals. It's easy to pretend that everything is just perfect in Carmel when you realize that Carmel gets all the benefits of being a PART of a major MSA without a fraction of the social concerns which are a part of every MAJOR CITY (that would be Indianapolis in this case, not Carmel).
However: I would debate the true walkability of this proposal. The neighborhood rowhouses are all segregated into one zone, and there is another zone marked residential. Neither of these zones appear to have any diversity of use in them. Instead, the enormous Meijer grocery store is in its own zone, at least a quarter of a mile away from the nearest house (judging by the size of the high school football field).
The store is HUGE, and it's not *in* my neighborhood; it's not a corner store that I can easily walk to if I need to pick up a few things. If I go into that Meijer, I'm going to end up getting more groceries than I can carry home in a bag. And I have to cross a major street - at least one - to get there. So most likely I'm going to choose to take my car...
Now if there is a decent bike bath that is separate from the vehicle paths (roads), and a bike rack at the entry, I can throw my groceries in my panniers and ride on home. Otherwise, don't count on as much non-car use in this walkable neighborhood as the developers might tout.
Of course if gas goes above ten bucks a gallon, then maybe people will walk it!
The past is the past. The future on the other hand is being written right now. Grew up in Meridian Kessler, still live in Broad Ripple. I love my hood and vowed after graduation (with a BS in Real Estate/ Finance from IU) not to be part of the Brain Drain. What I have experienced since coming home from college and buying my first property (in Butler, then in Broad Ripple) makes me sick! In fact, it's the opposite of Carmel's current situation.
1. High Crime
2. Poor Leadership (for mixed uses, walkable, dense, sustainable)
3. Lack of Planning
4. Nimbyism - especially in Broad Ripple (BRVA: This means you!!)
5. High Taxes
6. Piss Poor Schools
7. sub par infastructure
Carmel:
1. Low Crime
2. Great Taxes
3. Progressive Planning (Village of West Clay, City Center, Old Meridian, Gramercy and Legacy, roundabouts, walkable interchanges, tree lined streets)
4. #1 Schools in the State.
I sincerely hope Ballard and Brainard starting meeting weekly!
(PS I'm also in BR, and think the BRVA are a bunch of terrified nimbys' Shh, a lot of them are my neighbors!)
And Lov you got me on planning. You seem to think that BR was built and developed in the 70’s and 80's. Most of you youngsters’ seem to think that Indianapolis is what 50 maybe 60 years old. GET A CLUE about city planning? Times change. City planning change. You will find in time, change will come to your Carmel. And some of it will not be for the better. Greedy developer will see to that. Just think. In 15-20 years your Tax rate will be 35-40% just to pay for all this FAKE downtown and roundabout upkeep. Your already 80+ mill in the hole. Some day, maybe in YOUR life time. 116th Street will look like 38th street. YOU WILL BE THE INTER CITY SLUMS. This new Development will be section 8 housing. And most of you would have moved NORTH of Kokomo.
And would someone please explain to me what is so friendly about roundabouts. If the traffic never stops moving. How in the hell are you going to push a stroller across WHAT 3 lanes of moving traffic. Just to get across the street. Put you 2 year old in a stroller and try to cross a busy one. You’ll see how pedestrian friendly they are. Give me a stop light any day. Roundabouts are FOR CARS not for people.
Remember Carmel, YOU ARE JUST A SUBURB, a Fringe neighbored, an outlaying commuters group of Homes/office/shops/schools to Indianapolis and you always will be……. small to Indianapolis.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA insert evil laugh
I am tired of people saying that taxes are too high. Tell people in Chicago what you pay for taxes, and they will laugh. Places like Boston and Milwaukee have it rough. We need taxes to do things like improve water quality, add street lights (this will help crime), add sidewalks, replace sidewalks, improve school conditions, and fix these terrible roads.
Issue 2
Carmel will always be seen as a “Pleasentville†of sorts unless something drastic happens, ala Edward Scissor Hands. Living in a place where all the people look alike, all the businesses are brick (come on, gas stations), and all the houses are big does not appeal to me. I’m not saying it’s bad, but everyone has their own ideal place to live. Carmel is getting new developments because developers flock to where the money is. I’m sure everyone in Carmel has heard about commuter crime. This is where criminals go to wealthy neighborhoods and break in. This is sure to happen if something isn’t done to Indy (like Detroit), but I’m sure the Pacers have contributed to Carmel’s crime rate enough.
Roundabouts suck for pedestrians (let’s hope they don’t build that ugly figure 8 over west street).
In fact. I turned down possibly a great job just because it was in carmel. It's an artificial city that decided to forget who they were to begin with and build a completely new downtown.
Indianapolis is old and organic. Things weren't planned - they just organically came out the way it is.
I'll put it into these terms. What's more valuable? A real diamond, or a cubic zirconium?
Just some valid frustrations being vented.
Carmel is a town that is primarily made up of those who've abandoned the core city over the last few decades and perpetuate the trend of rich white-flight.
Carmel is a fraction of the size of Indianapolis, with a majority of upper-class citizens. They've got way more money spread over a smaller area.
Just imagine if half those people stayed in the inner city and helped fix the problems they complain about instead of running out to the suburbs.
Bob is totally right. Sooner or later the same problems that plague any city will hit Carmel. And the same thing will happen again. As Carmel attracts more people because of the concentration of wealth and prosperity there, people will flee instead of staying and fighting for the city.
Some people just don't want to deal with reality. And because of their position in life, they can buy a ticket out of it.
It’s nice in a way. But I don’t want to live there… To each his own.
The Meijer store predated the Old Meridian overlay I believe. There are already mixed use storefronts along Old Meridian. That street was recently redone with full side paths and even on street parking in some spots. Additional roads such as Grand Boulevard are planned to make the area more gridlike. Mayor Brainard and Carmel are huge advocates of public transit for Indy too.
Clearly, I do not agree with the wholesomeness agenda a number of residents are pushing. I don't think Carmel is perfect. But I think they realize at at some point they will be built out and unless they try to create a differentiated environment, they will be the next inner ring Marion County surburban area, suffering decay when their day in the sun is past. Whether you agree with it or not, they have a plan and they are sticking to it. Carmel appears to be much more advanced in its thinking than similar suburbs in comparable Midwestern cities.
I suspect a lot of the anti-Carmel sentiment comes from the social attitudes of a segment of that community that are opposed to urban progressive values, and frankly from a sense of frustration that all too often, Marion County just hasn't gotten it from a development quality perspective. The challenge is not to bring Carmel down, but to bring Indianapolis up. That isn't going to happen by telling people they were wrong to flee the city and that they should have stayed out of civic duty. It comes from elevating your own game, and from carving out your own market that caters to a broader segment of the community: the broad middle class, urban progressives, the GLBT community, young singles, immigrants, etc.
Carmel is making great strides to remain competitive in attracting affluent residents from the region and country even after the city has become fully developed. It is also should be clear that the relationship between Carmel and Indianapolis is symbiotic; however, the prospects of the two joining are highly unlikely.
Admittedly, I haven't spent a lot of time in Carmel, but other than jealousy, I don't understand the bitterness of so many comments here. It's as if people would like Carmel better if it was just like every other suburb, which I don't see how, from the standpoint of a fan of urban development, that would be better.
They were wrong to flee the city and they should have stayed out of civic duty! :-)
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I would love to embrace Carmel as a part of Indianapolis, but that's like trying to have a relationship with someone you just divorced.
The reason Carmel exists is because the residents there don't want to be part of Indianapolis. They're trying to build their own little plastic city. The residents there are typically openly hostile towards the inner city of Indianapolis, and anything positive that happens here.
That is the reason for what you've labeled bitterness idyllic indy. I applaud what Carmel has done recently as far as progressive development. But I can't support the isolationist, elitist attitude that most Carmel residents have.