The city is kicking in $6.35 million toward a $15 million parking garage
with first floor retail space and a police substation in Broad Ripple. The 350-space garage is planned for the southwest corner
of Broad Ripple and College avenues. City officials selected the bid from Newpoint Parking, Keystone Construction, Ratio Architects
and Walker Parking Consultants after an RFP process to address a shortage of parking in the neighborhood. The taxpayer's
portion of the cost will come from proceeds from the privatization of parking meters. A statement from the office of Mayor
Greg Ballard includes this seemingly contradictory statement: "Operators will set market rates for parking at the garage,
but the city will have oversight and the ability to cap the rates." Which is it? The mayor's office promised a July
public meeting to give members of the public a chance to comment on the plans. Click the rendering for a larger version.
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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.
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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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You would think just signing a anchor lease for a police substation would be enough of a public investment without throwing in any capital investment.
It's not a public private partnership if the public gets all the losses while the politically connected private firm gets all the profits.
Again, the city puts its money into parking lots instead of transportation...
If this was such a great idea, why has no entrepreneur stepped in to do a project like this themselves? Simple. It's NOT a great idea.
Falls short on design and mix of uses. Would have loved to see this going on a larger site with some added residential. Oh well. It's certain a big leap in the right direction for future development of the area.
I agree with you regarding the design and usage. If this WAS absolutely necessary, there are MUCH better sites for it and the design could be SO much better...
you obviously don't live in broad ripple. if you had people parking in front of your house every weekend night, you would probably get sick of it. I know it was thier decision to buy in that area, but I think a parking garage would alleviate their problems. I believe more people than you think would use the garage...mainly from a safety standpoint. Broad Ripple doesn't have the best reputaion for being the safest area.
I don't know if a parking garage is the right answer for that corner, but it will be better than what is there now. Speaking from experience, I was surprised someone was able to strike a deal with Marathon. there asking number was way out of line. Drugstores have looked at it...but, again, the asking price is not reasonable. maybe Marathon came to their senses??
As a resident of Broad Ripple and advocate of development...I am excited to see this corner getting some life back!
The city is financing 43% of a proposed $15 million parking garage, which equates to $43,000 per parking space, with no return on investment?
Certainly a small police substation with holding cells would not cost $6.3 million?
Granted they are placing retail on the first floor, however, the tenants would typically cover their own build out.
Unclear who would be covering intersection upgrades like new pedestrian sidewalks, utility infrastructure, and possible traffic light improvements.
Let's be honest here: Do you REALLY think that 350 additional pay-to-park spots are going to stop people from parking on the streets? And, do you really think it's better to make it a resident-only parking area? We want to ATTRACT people to our area, not force them to pay to enjoy our strip, restaurants, the monon and the canal.
I very much disagree that this project will improve life in Broad Ripple. It will only cheapen the urban fabric (if there is one anymore) by adding another ugly building.
What better place to add 350 more cars to the mix than that very same location???
This project should have been part of a much larger project to redevelop the strip mall just west of Broad Ripple High School
The location of the parking lot is a good thing. More people walking around at night will make it safer for residents and visitors.
The mixed-use building is a good thing. Retail on the first floor is better for density than most parking garages.
I'd like to see more development of the nearby canal, as its a very under-utilized feature. The parking lot could be an ideal location if the city permanently closed Broad Ripple Avenue to traffic. Imagine people gathering on the street for a drink, restaurants moving their tables out to the curb, and more green space for dog walkers and people-watching. Now that would be a destination!
I agree that there is currently plenty of parking in the area (no, I don't live there, but I do frequent there), and that residents are impacted only so far as to have people parking in front of their residences. What most residents don't like is the behavior of the people parking there (fair argument), not the parking in and of itself.
What stinks is that those who bought into a quirky, vibrant area, are going to punish those of us who make it so by forcing us to pay even more for the privilege of visiting. Progress? Hardly. Let the exodus to Fountain Square continue.
What may stink more is the deal itself. I think more should be done to explore the dollars as some have started to do. Why can't this make better economic sense for the city's investment? Does the earlier meter deal tie the city's hands on the arrangements? All good questions that should be fully explored.
@MK Neighbor No, and shame on me for not doing so. Only so much time in the day, I guess, and it's not my top priority these days. I'm only a NIMBY on the blogs...
I can't speak to BR's efforts, but from my experiences, it's difficult to get people active. Many of the greater "Midtown" areas are at one stage or another in an envisioning or planning process. As older neighborhoods go, this is a critical process to get input and make sure that everyone is happy with what development and redevelopment is going on within their neighborhood. Other than holding public meetings and ask, I am not aware of any other way to get the input. The end result will never please everyone-- that is something we can all agree on-- however, the more input the better.
I would be curious for any ideas about how this process could be done differently to reach more people and get the most input possible.
I'm not against some on-street parking restrictions, but there needn't be an outright ban on all visitor parking on neighborhood streets. Perhaps, something like posting of 2-hour parking, except for those with permits, and maybe just doing that on one side of the street (where parking is permitted on both sides). Just a thought. Forcing most all parkers into a garage so that the developer, who isn't even paying the full cost of building the garage, just doesn't seem quite right. And if they prohibit visitor parking on all the residential streets, they might need a lot more than 350 spaces in the garage.
@MK Neighbor: I really haven't heard much from the BRVA regarding local development, which has really bothered me over the last 10-15 years. Once Rails-to-Trails came in and paved over the Monon, there have been many things that have happened in the BR area without neighborhood input. Some have been great (street and side walk improvements, etc), and some have been incredibly poor (unchecked residential development). I heard nothing from the neighborhood association(s) about hearings and whatnot, and heard nothing about this project before today (though I assumed that it was going to happen eventually).
I suppose that if I want my voice heard by others, complaining on the IBJ isn't the best way to do it.
I realize I'm watering a dead plant here, so I won't even suggest you get involved. Change will go on without you, as it has before. But don't worry, you can always whine about it later.
Additionally, I find it extremely funny to see Indy residents roaring about paying to park will scare people away or somehow downgrade the area. Have you ever been to a city? Here it costs $20-30 for a decent place. And that's if you're lucky enough to even find a place. Chicago is the same. Indy is growing! These are good things.
As others have mentioned, if you want wide open fields of parking lots, head for the 'burbs. There's plenty of "free" (cost built in to every item you buy) parking for you there.
2 thumbs up for urban development!
2 thumbs up for urban development!
http://www.cirta.us/#
Wouldn't the building feel more approachable with design elements that are more typical of the fabric of architecture in BR? Maybe something more human tied into the design?
The streetscape in Broad Ripple is lovely and diverse and human scale...this concept feels somewhat cold and barren, and very foreign to the pedestrian. Would a stepped front be appropriate here, so this structure doesn't feel so towering/menacing?
Since most of the architecture in BR embraces the streets - this project may excite more people if it had a slightly softer touch, and especially at street level.
In any case, diverse parking options should enhance outsider's attraction to the area. If the design and cost cannot be made comfortable to the community at large, maybe some other sites are better suited?
An interesting approach and concept...probably worth discovering whether it's viable and to be tweaked some more. Nice work in the development of what might be able to be done...an open mind is a wonderful thing to expand upon!
I live just north of Kessler and Winthrop and struggle to find parking every Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening and night. It is incredibly frustrating to have to walk blocks to get to my own front door at night, in adverse weather conditions, while carrying my son in his car seat, carrying groceries, etc. I am glad that the city is finally doing something about this and hope to see residential parking permits for those who live on the side streets of Broad Ripple.
The next step is to get more out of the Canal -- possibly promenade? (something like Cultural Trail) Although this will likely never happen, I would love for promenade to stretch along Canal from Monon to Kessler (although that might require making part of Westfield one-way to make more room). In my opinion, the stretch of Canal trail from BR to IMA is one of the best little known "secrets" of living in Broad Ripple.
The study suggested a parking garage of this size would cost approximately $4.5 million excluding land acquisition and demolition costs as opposed to the $15 million structure being proposed today. Andrews summarizes:
COST OF CONSTRUCTION - the study noted the rising cost of concrete and cost of construction of parking garages over the previous 4 years, rising about 17% over that time span. They concluded that it would cost $4.5 million to construct a 4 story, 300 space, parking garage. They note that additional spaces would cost $21,878 per space. Using that figure, a 350 space garage would come to $5.6 million - not including acquisition of land or demolition costs.
http://advanceindiana.blogspot.com/