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It was a little more than a year ago that IBJ dedicated an entire issue to the state of downtown. The stories then were full of data and quotes about downtown. We tried hard to take an objective snapshot of what was happening in the city’s core.
This column isn’t that.
Instead, it’s a reflection of my own observations about some of things that feel improved since we published that issue. But nothing I’m about to say is based on data that proves things are on the rise. Frankly, these are just some things I’m excited about.
I could start with the plans for Circle Centre Mall or about what Caitlin Clark will mean for attendance at Fever games or even the progress that’s been made at Pan Am Plaza, where a hotel and convention center expansion will soon start rising.
But I’m most immediately excited that a Sushi Boss restaurant is moving into a vacant space on the Circle. (It’s true; the quickest way to a journalist’s heart is through food.)
I hated when Au Bon Pain left the spot on the southwest corner of Monument Circle and Meridian Street in the Guaranty Building back in 2020, taking with it yummy bread and great soups. I was even sadder last year when Green District, where I routinely picked up salads with salmon, suddenly shut its doors.
Since then, the spot has been conspicuously vacant—a sort of black eye on the Circle during NBA All-Star Weekend and other big events downtown. But this week, Sushi Boss owner Jason Hornberger announced he is excited to bring a location to the Circle spot.
“I think it could be a landmark location for us,” he told reporter Dave Lindquist.
I am hopeful it will be as well, and Sushi Boss will certainly have my business.
That announcement comes a few weeks after Command Coffee opened in the Circle Tower building on the Circle in the space Starbucks left. And ironically, Starbucks is set to open a store a block and a half south in the Kite building on Meridian Street. I’m not a coffee drinker, but these are obviously good signs for downtown.
Also in the news recently is J. Benzal’s planned move to a larger space just down the block on East Washington Street in a building acquired by the store’s owners, Mamadou “Ben” Diallo and Kameelah Shaheed-Diallo. And after a long wait, Keystone Group says it will open the Intercontinental Hotel in the Illinois Building off the Circle this fall.
More good news, of course, is that Wisconsin-based Hendricks Commercial Properties is closing on its acquisition of Circle Center Mall, allowing it to move forward with its plan to completely revamp the two-block space that once was vibrant but has fallen into a sad state.
The Hendricks plan is spread over a decade, so we won’t see an immediate impact. But knowing a rethink of the property is coming is good news.
And then there’s Caitlin Clark. I’ve been a women’s basketball fan for years and used to be an Indiana Fever season-ticket holder. I let the tickets go when I took a job that seemed to routinely prevent me from getting to the games on time. But I’m no less excited about the energy that Clark’s arrival in the city will bring to the Fever and downtown in general.
There are still many things to improve downtown. But I’m excited about this summer—the U.S. Olympic swimming trials, the farmers market coming to the Circle, the return of Spark on the Circle and much more.•
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Weidenbener is editor of IBJ. Email her at lweidenbener@ibj.com.
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