The newly spruced-up stretch of Georgia Street between the Indiana Convention Center and Bankers Life Fieldhouse is looking older than its age. Stone pavers are dislodged and stained. The wooden boardwalk is badly discolored. Bollards are askance after taking hits from errant vehicles.

A former Indianapolis resident who now lives in Philadelphia won the Monument Circle Idea Competition People’s Choice award, Indianapolis Downtown Inc. announced Tuesday.

Posters highlighting the top 12 proposals will be on display in Monument Circle storefronts until June 26 so members of the public can vote for their favorite. The ideas could be used by planners plotting the future of the downtown space.

Indianapolis Downtown Inc. is launching a new monthly event to encourage more people to live downtown just as real estate brokers say interest in available homes is picking up.

Two walkways that will connect to the new Marriott Place hotel will extend downtown's network of skywalk and underground pedestrian paths to a total of 12 hotels with more than 4,700 rooms--the most of any downtown in the United States.

A group of local business and civic leaders is working on a plan to transform the city's most visible symbol into a public-gathering space without equal in the United States. Monument Circle already hosts dozens of activities each year--including major concerts like last year's NFL Kickoff--and it will host several events connected to the 2012 Super Bowl. But many stakeholders believe the Circle has yet to live up to its true potential.

The merger of four of central Indiana's biggest business development organizations might achieve only modest cost savings, or even be more expensive than the status quo, a confidential financial analysis obtained by IBJ shows.