The Indianapolis transportation engineering company Farrar Garvey & Associates Inc. has been acquired for an undisclosed price by Clark Dietz Inc., an engineering firm that handles civil, mechanical and electrical engineering. Clark Dietz’s eight offices are in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. Its largest office is in Champaign, Ill., and its president operates from Chicago. Farrar […]
A Purdue University survey shows that the average price of bare Indiana farmland has shot up 17 percent to 19 percent since June 2006. Poor-quality land averaged $2,991 an acre and high-quality averaged $4,407. Transitional land, shifting out of agriculture, rose 4.5 percent, to $9,520. Most of the increase was driven by higher prices for […]
A clergy group that’s trying to help a union organize an Indianapolis janitorial company planned to stage another protest at noon today in front of Market Tower downtown. To accommodate the protest, the city closed Market Street between Monument Circle and Illinois Street for two hours. The closing prompted building manager Kevin Branch, of Colliers […]
Indianapolis City Market said today that Chase Bank has given it a $700,000 conventional low-interest loan to enable it to finish a renovation that began in January. Including the new loan, the market has spent slightly more than $2 million on the project. “We’re ready to get folks in there and get this thing open,” […]
About 4.2 percent of gross assessed property value in Indiana-roughly $16 billion worth-is not taxed because it is in a tax-increment-financing district or covered by a tax abatement, both of which are intended to encourage economic development. The figures, which amount to $400 million of property taxes, were discussed yesterday by the Commission on State […]
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. boosted its stake in WellPoint Inc. to 4.2 million shares in the second quarter, according to a regulatory filing. The stake represents less than 1 percent of WellPoint’s common stock. Even so, it’s a fourfold increase from the first quarter, when Berkshire reported that it had amassed 979,000 […]
First Indiana Corp. announced after the market closed yesterday that it will discontinue making consumer loans originated by a national network of mortgage brokers.The bank said it is withdrawing from that business immediately, which will lead to $535,000 in expenses in the third quarter. It had been selling most of the loans to investors.“The general […]
The $25.3 billion offer for Sallie Mae parent SLM Corp. is expected to gain shareholder approval tomorrow, but the buyers themselves might back out. The prospective investors are uncertain whether the deal will go through, Keefe Bruyette & Woods Inc. analyst Sameer Gokhale told Bloomberg. Early this month, the buyers, led by J.C. Flowers & […]
Shares of HhGregg Inc. shot up more than 7 percent this morning only to tumble back to the $13.50 range where the stock started the day. The swing followed the first earnings report the Indianapolis-based appliance and electronics retailer filed as a public company. Gregg said it turned a $2.9 million profit in its fiscal […]
American Commercial Lines Inc. directors have approved buying as much as $150 million of the company’s stock, the Jeffersonville parent of barge builder Jeffboat said today. The move follows a buyback of $200 million of the stock in July. The company has seen its shares slump to $22 from $39 in February due to weakness […]
HhGregg Inc. turned a $2.9 million profit in its fiscal first quarter ended June 30-also its first quarter to report financial results as a public company. The gain reversed a $1.4 million loss of a year earlier. The Indianapolis-based appliance and electronics chain attributed the improvement to strong growth in comparable stores and rising gross […]
Despite alternately hitting the gas and the brakes, the recreational vehicle industry still could be on track for a solid year, according to the South Bend Tribune. Dealers are selling of a glut of inventory they accumulated after makers last year offered deals to keep their plants humming. As a result, factories are getting fewer […]
The man who spent the last five years retooling the menu and operations of Indianapolis-based Steak n Shake Co. is leaving the struggling hamburger chain. Peter Dunn is out as CEO, the company said today. Chairman Alan Gillman, who joined Steak n Shake in 1992 as CEO, will take the helm again on an interim […]
Zionsville Golf Course has agreed to be bought by the town for slightly more than $1.5 million, according to the Daily Sun of Lebanon. The nine-hole course lies directly north of Zionsville’s center. Owner Mike Morgan told the newspaper that he and his wife, Patty, wanted the course to remain as green space despite offers […]
Shares of locally based Steak N Shake Co. shed nearly 9 percent of their value this morning, hitting a 52-week low of $14.07. The drop comes on the heels of a dip in third-quarter profit and lowered guidance revealed Aug. 10. Shares had traded at $16.89 on Aug. 7, responding to news that an activist shareholder acquired a 9.5-percent […]
GilChrist & Soames, an Indianapolis company that supplies toothpaste to hotels across the globe, has started recalling toothpaste made in China because samples were found to be contaminated with diethylene glycol. The chemical is used as a coolant, and in cork, printing ink and other products, and has been involved in several mass poisonings. The […]
Indianapolis-based Emmis Communications Corp. and the Indiana High School Athletic Association have started a Web site for sports coverage, the organizations said today. The free site, IHSAASports.org, includes live and archived video and audio as well as scores, video interviews, stories and schedules. Other features include coach of the week and player of the week. […]
Two years after launching a plan to outsource 1,017 jobs through IBM, NiSource Inc. is 144 positions short of its goal, according to The Times of Munster. This spring, the Merrillville gas and electric utility announced to workers that some of the jobs would return because results hadn’t met expectations. NiSource executives also told Wall […]
Forty-six percent of new houses in the nine-county Indianapolis area are unoccupied-barely an improvement from the 49 percent of early this year. The figure were compiled by Market Graphics, a Nashville, Tenn., firm that researches housing stock in 30 Midwest and Southern cities. Market Graphics owner Edsel Charles said ongoing problems with mortgage foreclosures appear […]
