Tower House proposal dead

July 29, 2008
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Tower House on MeridianA local accounting firm has bought the Grain Dealers Mutual Insurance building along Meridian Street for its headquarters after a local developer couldn't secure financing for a proposed $50 million redevelopment (shown here). London Witte Group plans to move its offices from OneAmerica Tower and lease out the remaining space. Locally based developer Inner-Urban Homes & Hospitality let an option to buy the building expire after it couldn't land financing, said company president George Nichols. The group had proposed adding a 14-story tower including a six-floor, 130-room hotel and 160 condos, along with 600-car parking garage over retail along Illinois Street. London Witte principals were not available this morning to discuss details of their plans.
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  • AblerockJuly 29, 2008 9:53 AM
    Thank heaven. That's one ugly building.
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  • ShaneJuly 29, 2008 10:02 AM
    Although I would like to see some hotels in that area again to bring some more people to the street, Ablerock is right.....it looked awful
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  • City ArchitectJuly 29, 2008 11:42 AM
    I think that development qualifies for clunker status....
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  • Dog BoyJuly 29, 2008 12:11 PM
    Not surprised or dissapointed. The only good thing about that project was that it was mixed use in that neighborhood.
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  • thundermuttJuly 29, 2008 12:47 PM
    It would have brought street life beyond 5pm. An office building with no ground-floor commercial or restaurant facility is a dead zone nights and weekends. A hotel-condo-office-restaurant-retail development on that corner would have been a busy place and a good anchor for the whole near north Meridian corridor.

    Perhaps London Witte will be able to attract a restaurant to their building.
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  • citysideJuly 29, 2008 7:45 PM
    It seems all new development has a very similar design (which I have no strong feeling
    for or against) but that I know people who read this blog despise so passionatly
    for some reason.
    It makes me think the designers know something we all don't about what will get
    approval and what will not.
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  • dps dudeJuly 30, 2008 7:34 AM
    I agree - all the 'artist renderings' of new projects are looking the same. Why not some 'art deco' looks, classic designs - brick, sconces,
    and interesting vertical lines? These appeal to the nostalgia-retro oriented it can be made to be 'green' and eye appealing as well. Also there is a very little of this style of architecture in the downtown area. These buildings in cities like New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Cincinnati are all revered and preserved for years.
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  • socrates#1fanJuly 30, 2008 3:33 PM
    I like dps dude's idea.
    It would go well with the structure that was supposed to be renovated in the project.
    I personally thought it looked like a structure out of a brutalist's dream.
    It would have added life but hopefully we can get other developers in this area.
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  • idyllic indyAugust 1, 2008 9:55 PM
    cityside, I think pretty much every design gets approved, outside of the historic districts.
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  1. Good ole' Obamacare. Thanks liberals and those who didn't bother to vote.

  2. Yes. Blame those who were too lazy to go vote Obama out and those who voted him in again. That's my take on it. I know folks won't get it on the left. OK. Start berating me now!

  3. Serioulsy, people are AGINST this project? Most communities would be salivating over a project like this. You'd rather have an empty eye-sore gas station and shacks posing as apartments? This project is exactly what BR needs. BUILD IT MR MAYOR. And yes, I am a BR resident, and have been for 20 years.

  4. As a St. Vincent employee of over 20 years, I am saddened and disheartened by this announcement. Unfortunately, as the healthcare "industry" continues on this political and corporate path, all that St. Vincent Hospital has stood for spiritually for its employees and this community is being sucked dry. I know it truly has no choice. It is not just Obamacare or just competition or just any single thing. This trend started long before I was even born when the government became involved in healthcare and it became an "industry." I grieve for those who will lose their jobs, one of whom may be me, but I also grieve for this hospital which I have served for over 20 years. May God give us and it the grace to withstand the future of healthcare.

  5. Why do people constantly harp on this issue and act ignorant about what a city population measures? A city's population is the city's population. There is no argument or debate about it. If you want to measure the density of a city--measure it. If you want to measure the size of a metropolitan area, then measure the metropolitan population. City boundaries cover different sized areas--and they always have (though the disparity has probably increased since about 1900 or so when more cities began annexing their surrounding communities). For example, San Francisco only covers 49 square miles while Houston cover nearly 600 square miles. No one argues about the population rankings of either city even though they clearly cover extremely different sized areas. Indianapolis is the 13 largest city by population in the U.S. That is a fact. While the population of a metropolitan area may give you a better sense of how large a community is, as noted, even metro areas can vary widely in the size of geographic area they cover--so that is not a perfect comparison either.

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