The new owners of Lafayette Square Mall are plotting a $12-million
redevelopment that would add a go-kart track and PC gaming area to the former Lazarus. New York-based Ashkenazy Acquisition
Corp. wants to make maximum use of the 113-acre property, which it bought from locally based Simon Property Group in December.
Plans include a sale of out lots, a larger food court, a façade and landscaping upgrade and a goal to fill vacant anchor
spaces by the end of 2008, said Ryan Zickler, a local retail broker who is consulting on the project. The new owners also
are considering a new name for the 1.2-million-square-foot mall: Heartland of Lafayette. The most audacious part of the plan
is a 75,000-square-foot entertainment center that would include an indoor go-kart track, bumper cars, glow-golf, laser tag
and amusement games. Party rooms and buffet offerings also are in the works for the former home of Lazarus. And a PC gaming
area would take another 40,000 square feet, Zickler said. What do you think?
- Home
- NEWS
- REGIONAL
- THIS WEEK'S PAPER
- BLOGS
- Multimedia
- OPINION
- A&E
- LISTS
- PEOPLE
- EVENTS
- Classifieds
- Subscribe
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 new owners of Lafayette Square Mall are plotting a $12-million
redevelopment that would add a go-kart track and PC gaming area to the former Lazarus. New York-based Ashkenazy Acquisition
Corp. wants to make maximum use of the 113-acre property, which it bought from locally based Simon Property Group in December.
Plans include a sale of out lots, a larger food court, a façade and landscaping upgrade and a goal to fill vacant anchor
spaces by the end of 2008, said Ryan Zickler, a local retail broker who is consulting on the project. The new owners also
are considering a new name for the 1.2-million-square-foot mall: Heartland of Lafayette. The most audacious part of the plan
is a 75,000-square-foot entertainment center that would include an indoor go-kart track, bumper cars, glow-golf, laser tag
and amusement games. Party rooms and buffet offerings also are in the works for the former home of Lazarus. And a PC gaming
area would take another 40,000 square feet, Zickler said. What do you think?
Sponsored by
ADVERTISEMENT
-
Ameriana Bank took over Westfield Farmers Market for 2013 and it is held in their parking lot, corner of 32 and Carey road, 5 to 8. I am selling soap and candles there. great market!
-
B&T certainly has enough of our taxpayer dollars to do this thanks to Mayor Ballard. Given the firm's exceedingly poor reputation in the legal community, the basement would seem a better option.
-
Should read MAY hire 20 people.
-
Not a good location for a 300,000 home. 10th Street fumes, buses, noise. Max for this location 150,000.
-
The state constitution also does not say that the majority has a right to quorum, nor that the minority is required to allow them quorum. In fact, denial of quorum has been a parliamentary maneuver since the establishment of the first parliaments in the early 1600s. The right to deny quorum (and the requirement fore quorum) are to prevent exactly what happened in Indiana: A tyrannical majority pushing through odious, objectionable legislation. Denial of quorum is totally legitimate, and lest we forget, a tactic the GOP has employed many, many times to ensure their issues weren't given short shrift. By allowing the majority to impose "fines" on the minority for exercising the authority the constitution grants them (to deny quorum,) they are violating the constitution.
ADVERTISEMENT
Back to TopCopyright © All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Use.
Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing.
Additional Hosting & Delivery by
IBJ Conversations
31 Comments
Add Comment
Think of high-rise living and offices buildings connected to an efficiant mass-transit system. Something similar could also occur at Eastgate Consumer Mall in addition to the high-tech facility being currently built there.
Though I do not like the new name. Does the NY group think that since this is the Midwest, there must be the word Hearland in everything. What's wrong with Lafayette Square. Maybe in the redevelopment they could include a public square.
And as for the name--since we're not IN Lafayette, The Heartland of Lafayette is an insult.
It's a tough call on what to do with it. The strong point that Laf. Sq. has is enormous amount of ethnic dining. That's pretty much the only reason I ever have to go over there. This might be just as lame, but maybe create an open-air market incorporating these restaurants and other retail stores. Sort of like a Clay Terrace, but for normal people.
If Ballard really wants a China Town this area is prime for it.
Oh, and changing the name is a BAD idea. Kind of like how apartment complexes think changing their names is going to make everyone forget what a pit they are or how much violent crime has occurred there.
Regardless of the name, I think it's great that someone is taking the time, effort and money to revitalize this once vibrant part of Indianapolis.
Good to hear from you Paul, Indy misses you and your talent.
Anyway it sounds interesting, hope they can somehow overcome the percieved and partly true fear that surrounds Lafayette Scare Mall. Sounds like they want to make it into what Great Times is over in the Beech Grove area.
Heartland is a losing name. Flush it.
Happy hour, time to make sure the beer is nice and cold.
nearby. . . .doomed. People in that area (though you can't generalize) don't
garden. The Wal-Mart should do well there. Go Karts and an expanded food
court? If anything, that will drive away the remaining retailers. . .like Macys.
Enjoy the article!
1. As previous posters have said go karting indoors is way too expensive for this demographic, it was tried downtown and failed, currently there is an indoor track in town on the north side but it at least has multiple levels and is really cool, but definatly not somewhere anyone can afford to visit on a regular basis.
2. This just sounds like a trashy idea overall, with games, golf, etc.
3. Definatly like the ideas about the embrasing the internationalism of the area
4. an important thing that needs to be considered would be to find a way to draw people and their money from other areas back to the lafayette square area, since this idea will not bring dollars from the northside or the west burbs (who use to shop at LS before the crime got so bad and all the stores that we shop at moved out to metropolis)
5. KEY WORD DIFFERENT, I mean if it's not going to be different at all i'll just go to metropolis, clayy terris, castleton, or for something different greenwood or downtown, GIVE ME A REASON TO VENTURE OUTSIDE MY COMFORT ZONE AND GIVE THIS AREA A CHANCE.
6. Definatly need to go with the international idea, hire a police force just for the mall (NOT rent-a-cops on segways), bring some new stores that are decent quality ( I don't mean over priced, but not trash, because thats part of the problem now), DEFINATLY HATE the name Idea, need something that identifies more with the mexican or black people of this area, I'd say consider adding a small outdoor component (like maybe, just rip the roof off the current small food court by burlington, that would do, and put a square in it and surround it with international boutiques like a marketplace),
don't just sell outlot, develop them yourself so you control what goes on them to ensure that its not crap and matches the theme of the mall and I'd recommend buying some of the current outlots and redevloping them as well such as the gun/tire/ old kroger right off 38th as these degrade the street appeal of the mall, improve the look from 65, add an international movie theatre and entertainment venue where international shows could come to town or community groups could perform for low cost.
Note to Matthew: Do you know what Garden Ridge Sells? If you look at their website you will note that they don't sell anything that has anything to do with a garden there more of a miscelanious retailer.
Perhaps I don't give the mass of suburbanites enough credit, but my impression is that any place where a white suburbanite regularly sees more than three African-Americans and/or Hispanic people seems to get labeled dangerous or ghetto.
Regarding Lafayette Square revitalization, I agree with most posters that the go-kart/gaming theme is horrendous idea. Thundermutt at #19 made an unfortunate but very realistic point by recognizing that a large presence of ethnic minorities (AfAm or Latino) would most likely scare a lot of people away. But the main problem of demographics here is the fact that karting/gaming would most likely draw a predominantly teenaged/young adult population, particularly the age group that (regardless of race) commits the most crime. I frankly don't think white suburbanites would be nearly as fearful in Lafayette Square if it were nothing but middle aged or elderly minorities, but when you concentrate a bunch of young adults together you are often asking for trouble. GreatTimes as worked for years on the South Side (where I grew up) in an area with virtually no crime but it still requires a considerable amount of supervision. The name Heartland at Lafayette is ridiculous as well--not to mention inaccurate sounding.
Geez I didn't want to sound so negative on my first post, but at least it sounds like we're all in agreement!
That said, with all the talk about how a karting facility would NEVER work here, didn't Stephan Johannsons Indoor Karting facility (just down the way at 36th and Lafayette Rd.) make a preety good run of it for several years? And that was JUST karting. This proposed addition to Lafayette Square includes much more. I don't think some of you are giving the area a fair chance.
Stefan's was a successful business for years, when it was the ONLY karting facility in Indy (and for a while - the country), and when racing at IMS was still popular and not run by Tony George's IRL, etc etc. The property was eventually bled dry by Stefan and his partners when it was then turned over to a guy who ran it as ProDrive Karting but was only open for special events - like I said that was the only profitable part of the business. Company outings, corporate sponsored events, bachelor parties, and proper marketing and promotion were the formula for success there. Another thing that helped kill it was the massive gap left when the medical supply/pharmaceutical business (remember how they spent lavishly back in the day?) changes in their hospitality spending.
That area has changed drastically in the last 15 years. Note all the major retailers that have left that area, and note the influx of lower income residents and the type of businesses that they support.
Granted you can get to 38th & Lafayette pretty quickly and trouble free from any downtown or airport hotel, but indoor karting, at the performance levels, is a costly proposition. And that ain;t the beautiful part of town either.
Could it work again? I guess I should not say never, but they better have one hell of a business plan, and a ton of capital. And no way I would put it in that part of town.
My .02. YMMV.
Think about the International Market in Honolulu - That place and the ethnic restaurants around it are always jammed. Two of the better local ethic restaurants are already right there, India Palace and Hacienda Restaurant.
Why do we so often seem to be snobs about our suggestions? Business traffic is business traffic. I lived in that neighbor for 9 years. I wasn't afraid to go to the mall, I just hate mall crowds. I would certainly go to specialty shops, especially if they were spread around outlots spread around a core mall. Lots of room around there. Maybe Don could be persuaded to move his range after all, he doesn't want to make money....
The Heartland name is awful, but maybe Lafayette Square does have a stereotype in peoples minds because of the incidents.
I just think we need to get the central core moving again. Sorry downtowners, I think the whole city needs attention and TLC, not just downtown. But far north and far south and far east and far west have all just gotten too far, especially with gas the way it is. Maybe it is time to reconcentrate on the central areas to give us all some variety (good areas for locally owned food, too) especially for the weekends which is when most of us are out and about.
What I didn’t know was that this area is riddle with Section 8 housing. This coupled with a massive amount of sub prime casualties and a passive police presence has made this area ripe for criminals. We assumed they kept Lafayette Sq. opened so the Black, White and Latino hood rats would have somewhere to pilfer other than Castleton or the Metropolis. The 2 times that My wife and I went into Lafayette Sq. seemed that every child from grade school age and up would head there after school and hang out with every drop out that was hanging there all day.
Its encouraging that they are planning to upgrade the Square, but it will be all for naught if they don’t flood the area with police who can pull over teenagers riding 2 to 4 deep, especially during school hours.
Ideally, an ordinance requiring anyone under the age of 18 to be accompanied by an adult in retail facilities would solve a lot of problems. Right now Wal-Mart, which is starting to look scary and Lafayette Sq, is a free drop off childcare service for parents who don’t care.
With homes that range $1,000,000 plus and lower within a 15 mile radius of Lafayette Sq. it’s a shame not to capitalize on those potential customers because the city needs an area for the hoot rats to congregate now that the eastside (Washington Sq.) is lost. This area has potential to be a great area with a few ordinance changes and an increased police presence.
Two ideas I see here I like are international market..and dare I say it here in Indy...a mass transit hub for the northwest side....
Inever heard Ballard wanted a Chinatown....maybe what he should focus on is Little Mexico on West Washington. Maybe some street projects like 38th...could be great.
My point is that this industry is not unlike any other. The right operators can make the business be a successful asset to any development. Its one thing to build these and quite another thing to operate them. We've done both successfully for years and continue to grow.