A group of eighth grade girls from a local charter school
spent all day Friday learning about real estate and developing plans for reuse of the old airport. The winning group pitched
a hotel, water park and acquarium complex called Aqua-Tel. Their proposal, detailed down to a floorplan and wall finishes,
will be presented to the airport's CEO. Other ideas from students at the Kipp School included an amusement park and hotel
called The 317 Getaway, an amusement center with a spa, ice rink and roller rink called Recreation/Escape/Skate and a casino-hotel
called Bling Bling that would create hundreds of jobs and be built with "green" features. The annual event, organized by the
Indianapolis Chapter of Commercial Real Estate Women, is designed to encourage more young women to enter the male-dominated
field. I had the privilege of helping to judge the plans.
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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.
A group of eighth grade girls from a local charter school
spent all day Friday learning about real estate and developing plans for reuse of the old airport. The winning group pitched
a hotel, water park and acquarium complex called Aqua-Tel. Their proposal, detailed down to a floorplan and wall finishes,
will be presented to the airport's CEO. Other ideas from students at the Kipp School included an amusement park and hotel
called The 317 Getaway, an amusement center with a spa, ice rink and roller rink called Recreation/Escape/Skate and a casino-hotel
called Bling Bling that would create hundreds of jobs and be built with "green" features. The annual event, organized by the
Indianapolis Chapter of Commercial Real Estate Women, is designed to encourage more young women to enter the male-dominated
field. I had the privilege of helping to judge the plans.
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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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The best reuse of the old terminal would be something distribution or manufacturing oriented which places a high value on multi modal transportation, not hospitality related industry. The large airplane tarmac, parking garage, and plenty of prime land should attract a significant development at least as large as the United maintenance hub.
The city has developed billions of dollars worth of hospitality infrastructure downtown that is currently being underutilized. Resources would be better used by better connecting the airport with the stadiums, hotels, museums, universities, shopping, restaurants, etc. with light rail.
On a professional note - I agree with Nick and Gary, this site should used to leverage more development for industries we're already soliciting - film and logisitics.
We have a brand new airport and now realistic way to get people to the core of the city where all the venues are. Let's put smart transportation to work to benefit our entire city, not just a few sports nuts.
The purpose is to expose 8th grade girls to the field of commercial real estate. This is accomplished over the course of two days, the last which culminates in the competition. The participants have to prove their knowledge of commercial real estate terms, like highest and best use and return on investment and understand the different types of real estate in both their presentation and in the judge's Q&A.
In proposing their ideas including water parks, amusement park, aquariums many of the team members cited the need for places for teens to go, places where families can spend quality & affordable time together and tourism as an economic driver.
After the competition, the girls were asked who thought the two days would be boring and most of the room raised their hands. However, I am happy to say that when they were asked how many thought a career in commercial real estate ( as a developer, banker, architect, planner, broker or lawyer) might be something they would now consider, many hands popped up. Mission accomplished.
Congratulations to all the 8th Graders from KIPP, their teachers and my colleagues in IndyCREW for a job well done!
Then, the blog has to be soured by the nonsensical gibberish and offensive comments of wing nuts like BLOGevich.
NICK & GIT'EM: The idea for a mass-transit hub is interesting and on the right track, though raises a few questions. (1) The old terminal is very isolated from the new terminal, unless one is willing to build a tram way under the runways as some airports have done. Otherwise shuttles and taxis are required to move people from the old to new, cutting down on efficiency and increasing commute times. (2) Is the old terminal's infrastructure sufficiently convertable to such a use? I suspect YES and the parking garage could house rental cars, etc freeing up land for more industrial development. (3) The bigger issue of whether or not the city can support light-rail by fees from ridership. I hope we are developing a culture that can and will.
The isolation issue - nearly a 6 mile trip on the interstate door-to-door - begs the need for an intermediatry more direct and efficient linking the two.
Suggestion: Please consider introducing the concept of zoning to help focus the proposals and make the exercise more interesting and fun next year.
The Airport Authority has already configured the new midfield terminal in a fashion that could easily accommodate the build out of light rail to downtown and help with development of the old terminal property.
While right of way and dual freight/passenger usage on the existing CSX rail line might present problems, they could easily be overcome with a new rail line on existing street right aways OR down the city owned right of way that was created when the airport was established which connects the city to the airports property.
As far as a business model for the rail line, I would suggest the creation of a regional transit authority which includes IndyGO and the Indianapolis Airport Authority which should jointly contribute, share and distribute user fees and local/state/federal funding. The energy savings, coordinated planning, alignment of common interests, convention and tourism boost, and assistance in the elimination of Indianapolis's non-attainment air pollution designation would surely be enough justification to move forward.
This should be a high state priority with all the proposed Federal funding available and it would dovetail into a redevelopment tool for the old airport terminal.
INDOT (Indiana Department of Roads) needs to help or get out of the way.
I still question, based on location, how good the old terminal would be for a transit center linking HSR, rail, car rental and bus. In addition to the other issues I mentioned, coordinating with HSR lines would be a challenge with the old terminal siting over 1/2 mile south of the rail lines. I hate not reusing older buildings, but would building a new facility be cheaper and more convenient? I don't know, but worth considering.
I do hope this vision is realized - and the city can have both HSR and a metropolitan light rail.
Alison
A great project indeed. Reminds me of Lilly Endowment's Youth Leadership Program that I took part in many years ago.
It would be interesting to know if the girls got to tour the facility and get to meet the Airport Authority/Administration and receive any information from them? The irony here would be the AA's mostly male demographic.
Additional Information:
FedEx is landlocked in Memphis, and can only grow here. Look for them to take the old terminal or at least the tarmac and postition themselves for the 3rd runway.
Is it ironic that BerwickGuy is commenting on gibberish and offensive comments?
www.cirta.us
We would love to have the expertise to add ZONING to the agenda. If any of you would like to volunteer your time for next years CREW CAREERS, please let me know.
For the record, Irsay pays $250,000 a year for use of the Stadium, and I read somewhere with other fees it is closer to $1 million. Far from rent free.
As far as the airport, demo the old terminal and use it for future warehousing,hangars or whatever. We had to move an interstate due to landlocking, lets make sure we have a good use for this before we just start building
Really, let the girls go at it. Any idea is a good idea considering this space. Outside of the office building, what practical alternative is there for the terminal part of the terminal, other than a wrecking ball? It's hardly a structure of any historic or architectural worth, and hardly usable as it stands now.
Okay, as I think about this, there's some practical retail use there, and parking...yet another outlet mall? A restaurant and club with a view? Everybody likes to watch airplanes. No? How bout a super collider, wind tunnel? Really kind of tough, outside of some large governmental or aviation use, sounds like a decision to be made by the free market.
Not much.
U.S Secretary of Transportation Mr. LaHood did not point to any particular short-coming in what Midwestern states are doing, but Indiana is known to be less enthusiastic about 110-mile-per-hour trains than other states, and Mr. LaHood said his department would appreciate having one person to call in this part of the country.
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/article.pl?page_id=2308&plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a1daca073-2eab-468e-9f19-ec177090a35cPost%3a34ac9813-e88b-4320-afc1-6d632b0e21b1&sid=sitelife.chicagobusiness.com
Is your moniker code for gay? Hey, I'm just asking, no intent to offend. Seems as if I struck a nerve before somehow? Why is it anymore that people can't have thoughts without being labeled as offending when there is no intent to offend? Perhaps we all need to quit looking for ways to BE offended.
Something, I don't know, let's say... perhaps within $40 million of the ~$48 million a year needed to pay off the bonds might be considered substantial.