The Metropolitan Development Commission approved a $15-million
Broad Ripple redevelopment project by a 9-0 vote this afternoon, disagreeing with a handful of vocal remonstrators. In siding
with the developer, Buckingham Cos., commissioners said the city should be encouraging projects that add density to the tax
base. The Monon Place project calls for 150 new apartments, a clubhouse and pool and about 12,500 square feet of retail space
on 14 acres just east of the Monon Trail between Kessler Boulevard and 61st Street. The property includes the 136-unit Monon
Place apartments and an 18,000-square-foot commercial building anchored by McNamara Florist. More on the proposal is here. Buckingham first applied to rezone the property in 2002 but lost after neighbors expressed concerns
about traffic and compatibility. A neighborhood group raised similar concerns this time around.
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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.
The Metropolitan Development Commission approved a $15-million
Broad Ripple redevelopment project by a 9-0 vote this afternoon, disagreeing with a handful of vocal remonstrators. In siding
with the developer, Buckingham Cos., commissioners said the city should be encouraging projects that add density to the tax
base. The Monon Place project calls for 150 new apartments, a clubhouse and pool and about 12,500 square feet of retail space
on 14 acres just east of the Monon Trail between Kessler Boulevard and 61st Street. The property includes the 136-unit Monon
Place apartments and an 18,000-square-foot commercial building anchored by McNamara Florist. More on the proposal is here. Buckingham first applied to rezone the property in 2002 but lost after neighbors expressed concerns
about traffic and compatibility. A neighborhood group raised similar concerns this time around.
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The basic idea of nice apartments with parking and retail is a good one, but this design seems overwhelmingly big/tall for Broad Ripple. The size could be disguised a bit with lots of big trees/landscaping, but the complex is too massive to blend in easily. That section of canal between College and Westfield will also need to be upgraded on both sides. Nice apartments facing onto a nice promenade with shade trees/plantings could bring together the canal towpath/Monon recreation, the outdoor seating at existing restaurants, and this project into something that upgrades the whole area. A plan for the whole stretch makes more sense than facing nice new housing onto what looks like a ditch. Is there a plan? Does the public have input? Who pays? The apartment idea seems to be reasonable, but Whole Foods is not a good idea for appropriate retail. Besides the store being physically too big, there are already Fresh Market at 54xCollege and Whole Foods in Nora for fancy groceries. Good Earth and Kroger are within walking distance of the Shell site. There are at least 7 grocery stores within a safe bike ride. Whole Foods would add nothing but traffic congestion. This design is on the right track, but there needs to be more work done to ensure that it blends in with and enhances the existing community. A project that large will set a tone for that whole part of town. It could be a real asset, but only if done right.
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I did not move to Zionsville to live in Carmel. This and the subsequent developments to follow will ensure a vanilla uniformity of strip malls and apartment buildings as we seek to bring our town down to the least common denominator. We were warned before recent elections that pro-development council members would make sure their friends (landowners and developers) would be able to make their millions off of the exploitation of Zionsville. Why in God's name would we sell out the best preserved small town in the State of Indiana?
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The people who resist change don't realize that Broad Ripple has to keep investing and improving to prevent being left in the dust by downtown Indy, Carmel, Fishers, etc. when it comes to attracting people to live here and patronize the local merchants. This is just another very bright spot in the mosaic that is Broad Ripple. As a nearby resident I'm looking forward to my first walk down to enjoy perhaps an ice cream or a sandwich, and sitting outside in a nice place away from all the hubbub to the north. Three cheers!
Let's not get carried away!
As for this development, great job to the MDC and to the developers. I am glad that the local developers are trying to maximize the Monon and as mentioned, hopefully a precursor to full-out TOD!
See article in Urban Times
My comment was not directed towards the hearing process. And I admit I should have been more specific. I was more mad at the councilman demanding that future projects be decided on by the city council, which scares me a lot.
http://theurbanophile.blogspot.com/2007/04/why-i-hate-historic-districts.html
The travesty is that the IHPC is overly influenced by what handful of activist neighborhood leaders want. And that is inevitably to reduce densities. Even right downtown many of these groups want nothing but single family homes. It also radically increases the red tape of doing anything in a historic district, and is a driver of the lack of affordable housing downtown. What's more, I'm not aware that expertise in historic preservation is a requirement to be on the IHPC.
In any event, historic preservation is a value for the community, but only one value in a group of values that sometimes come into conflict. The proper judges of the correct balance are, at the end of the day, elected officials. People involved in historic preservation are the least likely to keep the need for it balanced against the other needs of the community.
I don't think there's a separation of powers issue. To me it is like a zoning change.
Secondly, I agree that the historic districts can drive up housing prices, but I think that general development in downtown has the biggest driver of rising housing prices. The IHPC has been around for decades and it wasn't until the early 2000s when prices began to be driven up significantly. That time period coincides with the recent period of significant new development downtown.
Third, when I refer to the IHPC's expertise I am largely referring to their professional staff. However, some commissioner are also experts and during the nominating process for new commissioners both Historic Landmarks Foundation and the Indianapolis chapter of the American Institute of Architects have input.
Last, I agree that historic preservation is only one community value that must be balanced against others. That balance is determined not in the commission hearings but in the creation of the law creating the commission. Fundamentally, a legislative body, such as the City-County Council, is responsible for making laws not enforcing them or making quasi-judicial determinations. In fact, more often in government that community values balance is made by an appointed administrative official than by elected officials. Further, if you think the IHPC is overly influenced by activist neighborhood leaders what until you see the pandering that would occur with the City-County Council in charge.
Finally as a side note. I check the Urbanophile blog daily and usually enjoy, agree with and applaud you content. I believe in high density urban development. But I also believe that without the IHPC this city and the development we have would be far far worse off.
As for Monon Place itself, it's heartening to see such positive response. This is a development most cities would offer incentives for...and Buckingham is doing this totally on their own. Now let's just hope they fulfil their promise and build what the conceptual drawings have promised.
The main remonstrator also, during rebuttal, talked about how kids dart out from between parked cars and can be threatened by on-street parking. He then went on to start talking about how his son had been born a little person and no one would see him. He then broke down in tears and walked out of the room. Some serious drama there...
Wow, just...wow. Words fail me.
I'd be much more supportive of the IHPC if they stuck to bona fide historic preservation and stayed out of the land use business. The staff is much better than the commission, so I'm with you on that one.
So probably the IHPC process has been a positive for some areas of town over time, but is now becoming more of a millstone around the neck of downtown development.
My strong preference would be to landmark individuals structures versus creating large districts.
density (housing) structures in Marion county. List the percentage of
units occupied and those vacant. List median incomes of the occupants and
complete demographic information on those occupants. That would be a
great way to convince (or not convince) people of the need for high densification
in their neighborhood. I live in the Mapleton-Fall Creek area and, though I
have never done an exact count, I can think of at least 12 high density
residential structures (in an area where one would imagine high density
housing would be popular) that sit completely vacant and in disrepair.
The main remonstrator also, during rebuttal, talked about how kids dart out from between parked cars and can be threatened by on-street parking. He then went on to start talking about how his son had been born a little person and no one would see him. He then broke down in tears and walked out of the room. Some serious drama there…
Oh please let there be video of this somewhere...
http://indianapolis.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=17
As for Broad Ripple as a whole, I personally would love to see it develop similarly to Atlanta's Buckhead area. Just think if we could get some good 4-8 story buildings that would add density? This would help to stablize the Glendale area and hopefully prompt transit to eventually follow!
want a 4-8 story building developed next to it? As I mentioned before. . .
show me that the market is driving heavier densification and I'll zip my trap.
that the logic that has put the country in a housing crisis. I want statistics
telling me how many existing apartments/condos/townhomes are occupied now.
If the percentage of filled units justifies development then develop.
And I want statistics on the annual yearly rainfall in Nigeria.
Your request and my request would have equal amounts of relevance to the justification of APARTMENTS being built.
I am a planner by education and trade. I am the planning director for a suburban county. I do see your side, but having once been a planner for Indpls I have witnessed first-hand numerous projects proposed in the Broad Ripple area that the neighborhood groups refused to even consiuder based off of density alone. It's very unfortunate. Besides, there are many bungalow neighborhoods in teh City if you wish to remain in a medium-density area.