-Wurster Construction has begun interior demolition of a building previously used as a Masonic Lodge at 1522 W. Morris St. The building, built in 1907, will be refitted with 24,000 square feet of medical office space and expanded by 1,600 square feet. The project, designed by HALSTEAD Architects, will become the new home of HealthNet Southwest Health Center and Southwest OB/GYN Annex. The center, expected to open in summer 2010, will be built with sustainable construction products and serve as a demonstration project for the city of Indianapolis' Office of Sustainability.

-Holladay Construction Group recently completed a 15,000-square-foot office/training/manufacturing facility for Public Agency Training Council at 5235 Decatur Blvd.
 

Health spending is growing slower than it has in 48 years—but that’s better news for businesses and households than it is for governments. Whether health care reform will continue the trend is an open question.

Mike Rinebold, director of government relations for the Indiana State Medical Association, discussed the national health reform effort of 2009 as well as the 2010 session  of the Indiana Legislature that began Jan. 5.

Clarian North Medical Center named Damita Williams, a registered nurse, its chief nursing officer and vice president of patient care services. She has been interim chief nursing officer since September. Williams joined Clarian North in 2005 as director of Riley Hospital North and Resource Center.

Dr. Andy Dillingham, has joined St. Vincent Physician Network in Carmel as a family medicine physician. Dillingham, a former pharmacist, earned a pharmacy degree from Butler University and a medical degree from Midwestern University's Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services finally defined the "meaningful use" standard for hospitals and doctors to receive subsidies to install electronic health records.

Whew! A contract dispute that almost kicked seven central Indiana hospitals out of the network of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield was averted at the last minute last week. On Dec. 30, Anthem released a “News Flash” saying that its customers no longer would receive negotiated discounts at Hancock Regional, Hendricks Regional, Henry County, Morgan, Riverview, Westview and Witham hospitals, beginning the next day. The hospitals are part of Indianapolis-based Suburban Health Organization. But by 4 p.m. the same day, the two sides came to terms.

What Dow AgroSciences has done with corn, it’s now trying to do with cotton. The Indianapolis-based company has licensed genetically engineered cotton traits from Switzerland-based Syngenta AG. Dow Agro will combine Syngenta's traits with cotton traits it developed. In 2012, Dow Agro expects to launch cotton seeds stacked with the traits to better protect against cotton pests. Dow Agro, a subsidiary of Michigan-based Dow Chemical Co., developed corn seed with eight genetically engineered traits following a licensing deal with St. Louis-based Monsanto Co. Dow Agro and Syngenta did not disclose financial terms of their deal.

St. Francis Hospital and Health Centers has sued three OrthoIndy physicians over the group's new $20 million outpatient surgery center scheduled to open in Greenwood next year. The complaint alleges the new facility breaches an earlier partnership between the two health care providers. According to St. Francis’ civil complaint, filed Dec. 18 in Hamilton County Superior Court, St. Francis and an OrthoIndy affiliate agreed in 2001 to become equal partners in another facility—the Indiana Orthopaedic Surgery Center at 5255 E. Stop 11 Road on the St. Francis campus on the south side. But in December 2008, OrthoIndy announced it had purchased property four miles from the Indiana Orthopaedic Surgery Center and planned to construct a competing facility there. An attorney for the OrthoIndy physicians said St. Francis’ lawsuit has no merit.

When production at Tippecanoe Laboratories in Lafayette started today at 9:30 a.m., it officially launched a new era for the drugmaking plant. Germany-based Evonik Industries AG is now operating the plant after acquiring it from Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. Lilly sold the plant as part of $1 billion in operating cuts it wants to achieve by the end of 2011. Lilly signed a nine-year contract for Evonik to supply it with the materials made at the Lafayette plant. Gov. Mitch Daniels attended the start of production this morning.

Community Health Network’s philanthropic foundation received $1 million in cash from John W. “Jack” Heiney, a retired president and CEO of Evansville-based Indiana Gas Co. Heiney’s gift, made in honor of his late wife Betty, will be used to fund outreach, wellness and prevention programs, as well as improve Community’s facilities and employees.

Jan. 7-10
Indiana Repertory Theatre
The weather outside may be frightful, but inside it should be carnival hot. Dance Kaleidoscope offers “Play Mas,” celebrating the carnivals of Trinidad and Brazil, and “Food of Love,” featuring music from such far-ranging places as Argentina, Pakistan and Africa. Prior to the Friday through Sunday programs, you can show up to the theater a half-hour early for “Dance Talk with David,” featuring DK artistic director and choreographer David Hochoy. Details here.

 

Jan. 9

Through Feb. 7 Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre It’s January, and that means the musicians at Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre get to take a break while the stage is turned over to a song-less comedy. This time, it’s Larry Shue’s oft-staged “The Foreigner,” a 1983 hit about a shy man whose pal tells others that he doesn’t speak English. Jeff Stockberger, no stranger to door-slamming silliness after appearing in B&B’s “Don’t Dress for Dinner” and “Run for Your Wife,” leads a cast that includes Sarah Hund of “Smoke on the Mountain” and Indy’s favorite Santa, Ty Stover. Details here.

The town of Zionsville is considering buying the 2.4-acre site of a former Citgo gasoline station that it considers a gateway to the Zionsville village retail area.

KLC Realty LLC bought the Colby Shoppes, a multi-tenant retail center at 954 N. State Road 135, Greenwood. The 17,739-square-foot property sold for $1.3 million. The buyer was represented by Brian T. Southworth and Nathan D. Whalen of the Indianapolis office of Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services. Southworth and Whalen also represented the seller, First Merchants Bank.

-Shamrock Builders-Commercial recently finished a 4,000-square-foot office for Glanders Orthodontics at 8451 S. Emerson Ave.
 
-Shamrock Builders-Commercial recently finished a 2,500-square-foot office build-out for Stevenson Dental at 6905 E. 96th St.

Because of the holiday, there is no mortgage interest rate survey this week.

-Capin & Crouse leased 10,000 square feet in the Emerson Office Parke Building One, Greenwood.  Greg Allen and John Cunningham of Allen Commercial Group represented the landlord. The tenant represented itself.

-Little Mexico restaurant leased 4,587 square feet in the Emerson Pointe Retail Shopping Center, Greenwood.  Greg Allen and John Cunningham of Allen Commercial Group represented the landlord. The tenant represented itself.

-Health Management Systems Inc. leased 1,290 square feet of office space at Landmark Center, 10th and Meridian streets. Matt Waggoner of Summit Realty Group represented the tenant. The landlord, Landmark Ventures LLC, was represented by John Vandenbark of CB Richard Ellis.

-Sports Clips leased 1,240 square feet of retail space at Brookshire Village Shoppes at 126th Street and Gray Road, Carmel. Jeff Hubley of Midland Atlantic represented the tenant. The landlord, O’Malia Investment Co. LLC, was represented by Barrett & Stokely Inc.

-Show-Me’s leased 7,329 square feet of the former Damon’s Grill at 4530 Southport Crossing Drive. The landlord, Daniel and Judy Pedersen Living Trust, was represented by Michael Cranfill of Sitehawk Retail Real Estate. The tenant was represented by Tim Murray and Greg Smith of Resource Commercial Real Estate.

-El Mariachi Mexican Restaurant leased 2,160 square feet at a former Pizza Hut at 11420 E Washington St. The landlord, La Raza Pizza Inc., was represented by Michael Cranfill of Sitehawk Retail Real Estate. The tenant was represented by Eric Hillenbrand of Sitehawk Retail Real Estate.

-The Loving Care Agency Inc. renewed its lease for 3,191 square lease at 2647 Waterfront Parkway East Drive.  The tenant was represented by Brooke Augustin of NAI Olympia Partners.  The landlord, New Boston Jacaranda LP, was represented by Gus Sevastianos of Citimark Management Co. Inc.

-Bennett Mauk & Higgs Insurance renewed its lease for 1,028 square feet at 8606 Allisonville Road. The landlord, New Boston Castle Creek II LP, was represented by Gus Sevastianos of Citimark Management Co. Inc. The tenant represented itself. 
 

Indianapolis health care heavyweights are among those spending $635 million, employing 166 former aides to key congressional leaders and committees in health reform process.

Specialists lose, primary docs win in new Medicare payment rates. All hope Congress acts to avert a scheduled 21-percent cut for everyone.

It’s tough being a most-favored nation. Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Connecticut, a subsidiary of Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc., got a tongue lashing from that state’s attorney general for the “most-favored nation” clauses it inserts in its contacts with hospitals. The clauses insist the hospitals give no other insurance plan a discount larger than that given to Anthem. The clauses are preventing some of Connecticut’s hospitals from signing up for a new state-run insurance plan for the uninsured, called Charter Oak. It pays rates lower than those negotiated by Anthem, and many hospitals have refused to join for fear Anthem would insist that the hospitals allow Anthem to lower its payment rates to equal those of Charter Oak. Connecticut Attorney general Richard Blumenthal wrote a letter this month to Anthem asking it to promise not to insist on receiving discounts equal to Charter Oak. “I call on Anthem to break its death grip on hospitals and encourage them to join in this critical health insurance program,” Blumenthal said in a statement. Most-favored nation clauses were banned in Indiana by the General Assembly in 2007.

Even though Wall Street likes the Senate health reform bill, that doesn’t mean rank-and-file insurance professionals do. But in the Christmas spirit, Susan Rider,  president-elect of the Indianapolis Association of Health Underwriters found some positives in the latest version of health reform. She likes that there will be no government-run health plan or an expansion of the Medicare program—although she still does not like the proposed expansion of Medicaid. She likes that a cap on flexible-spending accounts of $2,500 will now rise in line with inflation. She likes that the federal Department of Health and Human Services will not set broker commissions in the newly created insurance exchanges. But she does not like much of the meat of the bill. She thinks the requirement for insurance plans to spend at least 85 percent of premiums on care (80 percent for individual policies) needs to be reduced, likewise the $6.7 billion in annual taxes assessed on for-profit health insurers and the 40-percent tax assessed on insurance policies costing $23,000 or more. Rider said the fines used to enforce the mandate that all individuals buy health insurance will be “completely ineffective” because they will allow Americans to pop in and out of insurance pools only when they need health care services.

This can’t be good for business—especially for a human resources business. Indianapolis-based consultant HR Solutions Inc. was sued in federal court last month for allegedly failing to pay commissions earned by a saleswoman and then firing her the day after she got out of the hospital after a pancreatitis attack. The saleswoman, Candi Marsch of Evansville, wants HR Solutions to shell out back pay, punitive damages and legal fees.

<p><strong>Debi Lee</strong>, a registered nurse, has been named chief nursing officer at Westview Hospital in Indianapolis.
                     Lee has served                      as interim chief nursing officer for the past six months. Prior to Westview, Lee was a
                     respiratory therapist                      at Indiana University Hospital                      and Westview Hospital, a staff
                     nurse on Westview Hospital's medical surgical                      nursing unit, and a school nurse at Van Buren Elementary
                     School in Plainfield.</p>
                 

A major downturn in commercial real estate was inevitable, but the depths have surprised even seasoned industry veterans.

— Belkin International Inc. renewed its lease for 798,096 square feet at Airtech 1, 558 W. Airtech Parkway, Plainfield. Andrew Morris, Jeremy Woods and Matt McGrady of Summit Realty Group represented the tenant. The distribution center landlord, ProLogis, represented itself in the transaction.

— Defender Direct Inc. leased 23,166 square feet at 3939 Priority Way South Drive, in The Precedent Office Park. Scott H. Lindenberg and Ronald D. Foster of Echelon Realty Advisors represented the tenant. The landlord, PP Indianapolis V Project Corp., was represented by Rick Trimpe of CB Richard Ellis.

— American Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation PC leased 3,292 square feet of office space at 6612 E. 75th St. Matt Jackson of Halakar Real Estate represented the tenant. The landlord, 6612 East 75th Street Corp., was represented by Andrew Martin of Colliers Turley Martin Tucker.

— Indiana Children’s Wish Fund Inc. leased 2,287 square feet of office space at 6435 Castleway West Drive. Jeff Castell of Colliers Turley Martin Tucker represented the tenant. The landlord, Brookfield Real Estate Opportunity Group, was represented by David A. Moore and Darrin L. Boyd, also of Colliers.

— Dr. Rusty Neal DDS leased 2,348 square feet of retail space at 9893 N. Michigan Road in the West Carmel Marketplace Shoppes. James Marron of UGL Equis represented the tenant. The landlord, CASTO, was represented by Jacque Haynes and John Byrne of Colliers Turley Martin Tucker.

— HRC Medical of Indiana LLC leased 1,887 square feet of office space at 10173 Allisonville Road. Darrin L. Boyd and David A. Moore of Colliers Turley Martin Tucker represented the tenant. The landlords, James T. and Dorothy E. Ward, were represented by Kurt Meyer of Baseline Inc.

— Cortese Dermatology leased 1,996 square feet of office space at 8921 Southpointe Drive. Tom Cortese of Acorn Group represented the tenant. The landlord, NNN Southpointe LLC, was represented by Darrin L. Boyd and David A. Moore of Colliers Turley Martin Tucker.

— Leitz Out Concepts Inc. leased 1,759 square feet of office space at 3500 DePauw Boulevard. Justin Smith of Steinco represented the tenant. The landlord, CP Pyramids Associates LP, was represented by David A. Moore and Darrin L. Boyd of Colliers Turley Martin Tucker.

Bluestone Property Management, based in Amherst, N.H., is an investor in the recent purchase of Lake Castleton Apartments by a New York-based hedge fund. Last week’s Real Estate Weekly cited the wrong Bluestone, a company based in Houston.

Indy Management Group Inc. bought the two-building Sherman Commons retail strip center at 3709 E. Washington St. for $1.05 million. The buyer, which is a tenant in the 22-year-old center, was represented by Herb Feldmann and Cindy Hoskinson of Grubb & Ellis Harding Dahm & Co. The seller, Sherman Commons Associates LLC, was represented by Brian T. Southworth and Nathan D. Whalen of the local office of Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services. The center is 80 percent occupied.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the pace of mortgage loan activity fell 10.7 percent for the week ended Dec. 18, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Rates for 30-year loans were steady for the week at 4.92 percent. Fifteen-year mortgages increased to 4.34 percent from 4.33 percent the previous week.

Jan. 1
Indianapolis Civic Theatre
    The well-trod path down the Yellow Brick Road gets a resurfacing at this “Wizard of Oz” stage performance in which audience members can join in on the songs and familiar lines. Also encouraged: Dressing up for a costume competition. Arrive early (6:30) for pre-show vocal warm-ups. Details here.
 

Dec. 31
Hilbert Circle Theatre
    The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra may not have toured lately, but for this year-ending concert, it will be symbolically traveling to Vienna. The music is by Strauss and the after-party features the Paul Berns Band. Dance Kaleidoscope and soprano Jacqueline Brecheen (recently seen in Indiana University Opera’s “The Magic Flute”) are along for the ride. Details here.