Tale of two downtowns: $9B set to be invested in projects, even as business district struggles with recovery

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24 thoughts on “Tale of two downtowns: $9B set to be invested in projects, even as business district struggles with recovery

  1. This essentially comes down to a shift in Downtown land use. There is less office space & more apartments, hotels, and tourism-serving land-uses. This trend started before COVID, but it was accelerated significantly by COVID.

    1. How much money would it cost to convert an office tower to apartments? Would the cost be on par of building new?

  2. After walking through the mall at lunch it was very depressing. Vacant stores and restaurants and no people. Architecturally the space still is incredible but very different than several years ago. I kept thinking what could be done in the City to help the mall. I feel a big change maybe to add a casino downtown to spur more development and reuse. Union Station and the mall together could create a unique casino space and bring more life to downtown. I am sure this is not an option with the current legislature, but just a thought to transform the two facilities. Another issue is that the mall exterior looks worn. Sidewalks are in bad shape and stained along Meridian and Washington Streets. The planter beds along Washington Street are not maintained and are not attractive As a comparison to Indy visited Columbus, Ohio last month the downtown sidewalks, landscape and streets were immaculate, very well maintained and pothole free completely different than Indianapolis. I was very impressed.

    1. Connecting Union Station and the Mall were discussed even as the mall was being built. Some “key people” involved, did not wan to see that happen. If you look at the bridge connecting the mall to the Omni Hotel, you will notice that it could have gone right down that alley alongside the Omni and right to the Mall. Indeed that was the plan but was snuffed. I did a lot of the drawings for some of the those enclosed bridges. Maybe the time is right to complete that segment.

  3. This and previously published articles enforces private Investment sees huge potentialtial in our ever-growing city. The misfortune of the pandemic has launch fresh opportunities to reinvent Us. I believe government should speed up its momentum to keep up with adventure capitalists. I’ve been a downtown resident and business owner nearly 25 years and am pleased to watch private Investment growth.

  4. Daniel Burnham, famed architect who inspired Chicago to become the first city with skyscrapers, urged city planners to “make no little plans, (for) they have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized.”

    Those who worry that downtown Indianapolis cannot fill all the new housing that is planned should ask themselves, how can our peer cities do these things but we cannot?”

    Naysayers never succeed at anything because they never try anything. Small thinking yield small results. Thankfully there are some here who see the future, and are willing to risk fame and fortune to build for it.

    These are our Daniel Burnhams for Indianapolis in the 21st century.

    1. Brent B.

      Agreed!
      We must think big and creative ( thinking outside the box is important also )

  5. Indy is important to the entire State as the front door and face. If it’s Indy no where then it is Indiana no where. The world sees Indiana as Indy
    In every city the downtown is the heart and the face of the community.
    Every successful downtown is lived in not just a place where people commute to work. Housing is the corner stone and hotel rooms is short term housing.

  6. Competition from peers clearly exists: Columbus, Cincinnati, Louisville, and Nashville. Indy must try hard but must focus on aspects pivotal and unique to the city. Sadly, some of the greatest impediments to progress are proposed in the statehouse.

    Improve downtown as a use-diverse area incorporating residents, convention attendees, and office workers. But residents should include empty nesters and families across a broader range of incomes. Central city schools must be excellent – one recognizes this as a tall but necessary order.

    Useable and safe open spaces is essential as is convenient foot and non-motorized transportation.

    One questions roadway decisions auch as the Washington-Maryland couplet as well as the freeway wall separating the CBD from the city (bad planning and bad design continued with the lastest I-65/I-70 redo). And that awful freeway junction southeast of the CBD should be decked so the Virginia Avenue could once again resemble a street rather than a viaduct.

  7. I no longer live in Indianapolis but would love to see the city return to the safe clean place it once was. I always said Indy should get advice from peer cites like, Columbus, O, San Antonio, Nashville, TN and others. Also don’t continue take ten, twenty or thirty years to build skyscrapers and make road improvements. Someone said thinking out of the box is key to continued to grow. One more thing, streets in Indy are terrible! Sunken manholes, potholes, steel plates with no warning you’re about to hit one, all need to be addressed. Very sad the main north-south thoroughfare; Meridian street is riddled with sunken manholes, potholes, patches over old patched pavement. From 16th south to near Monument Circle. Would love to see Indy return to a beautiful city.

    1. Eric G.

      Agreed.
      Would love to see the downtown corridor along Illinois Street from
      the bus station terminal up to Ohio Street and over to Monument Circle
      be clean and well maintained. This corridor is very important because
      most out of towners ( convention goers ) must use it when seeking
      restaurants, entertainment venues, retailing establishments, and going to
      see Monument Circle.

      That whole Illinois Street corridor looks very bad and is what many people
      will remember about downtown Indianapolis long after they leave.

      ** City leaders really need to ask themselves this. With all the conventions,
      major sporting events, and special events that we host,
      – Why AREN’T WE drawing out of state investments, jobs, and economic
      development into our downtown ******

      Nashville is booming, yet 30 years ago was way behind Indianapolis in growth
      and development. What spurred their growth but has not spurred ours.

  8. $9 Billion is definitely a start and hopefully all these projects get completed. To be honest, Indy has no choice but to build up the city and give it a fresh new and bold look for the future. Indy definitely needs more modern sleek glass buildings. A cities downtown if done right, gives visitors an impression of a successful city that’s doing something right. The old talking points of low cost of living ect ect, isn’t always going to draw out of state transits to move here but plenty of amenities and family activities will. Indy should also do more as far as adult and live entertainment. Nashville’s Broadway st is a good example why it’s the#1 bachelorette part city in America. After attending conventions and sporting events, visitors want to be entertained in multiple ways and not just your basic restaurant, movie and museums.

  9. Indy should start requiring (in exchange for development dollars) that new buildings be built in Art Deco style. That would give indy a distinctive look and would potentially make indy known as an architectural gem, like Columbus, IN. Indy is indeed at a turning point. It needs to take some creative, even radical steps, to stand out from its peers. Indy has taken itself for granted. We should already have an MLS team. We’ve kind of missed the boat on that. Or maybe try for a MLB team. And more interesting museums, like a national biopharmaceutcal sciences museum (it’s a natural fit here, with first biotechnology drugs developed here, Lilly, largest med school in country, etc), and a
    new state-of-the-art performing arts center downtown. Then maybe indy wouldn’t be passed over for the major productions touring the country. I hate to think Indy’s best days are behind it. But I cannot help thinking that…

  10. Build for Life, not just for visiting. Indianapolis’ downtown, since the mid 20th century, has been planned and built for visitors. As such, it has a fake, tourist, dead feel. It is made for conventioneers, sports fans, and suburban commuters.
    Indianapolis is not a downtown in which to live, but a downtown for people to visit and then leave.

    From the downtown freeways, to the multiple sports facilities, the convention center, the piped-in music on the Circle, and chain restaurants, etc … it’s all for people who don’t live there. With that mindset, it will never be a great city.

    DT Indy needs to build a Living city. Build a 24-7, living community. Only then will you get a city that is vibrate, active, *real*, multi-faceted, and interesting, as well as economically successful. When you build a city for Life, tourists will also flock to downtown, because it will be a place people want to be.

  11. Just downtown today today.
    Walking along Illinois Street and vagrants are everywhere.
    Until the city does something, no business will want to come into that
    corridor. A corridor that is vital to our convention business.

  12. It took decades for Indy to grow into the hip, clean, safe city it was pre-pandemic. City leaders need to fix the obvious issues of violence, theft and basic municipal maintenance and also consider providing significant incentives to retain and bring businesses, residents and visitors back into the city. That’s a tall order and unfortunately, as people and businesses continue to leave the city at high rates, it appears the bleeding has only begun.

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