The $1.56 billion takeover offer that Simon Property Group unveiled this morning for mall owner Mills Corp. was long overdue, said a RBC Capital Markets analyst. Rich Moore, who follows the Indianapolis-based shopping mall owner for the Columbus, Ohio, company, told Bloomberg he was baffled why Simon hadn’t pounced earlier on Mills’ 38 regional shopping […]
Kite Realty Group Trust said today it will develop 26 acres owned by the University of Notre Dame. The mixed-use, 500,000-square-foot project south of the football stadium will include retail, hotel, office and condominiums, townhouses and apartments, the Indianapolis real estate investment trust said. The university is considering a technology park, single–family homes and more […]
Chambers of commerce in north-central Indiana have banded together to boost their influence with lawmakers on issues ranging from regional prosperity to full-day kindergarten, according to The Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne. Other priorities include transportation and making local government more flexible. Members of the Northern Indiana and Southwest Michigan Business Leadership Coalition include chambers […]
Simon Property Group today offered a competing bid for Mills Corp., a Chevy Chase, Md., shopping mall company that said last month it might have to seek bankruptcy protection. Simon’s offer of $24 per share, or $1.56 billion, is $3 per share higher than a January offer by Brookfield Asset Management Inc. of Toronto, Canada. […]
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and New Jersey Gov. John Corzine have asked advice from Indiana counterpart Mitch Daniels about leasing roads as Rendell and Corzine look to solve budget problems, according to the Post-Tribune of Merrillville. Also, Colorado is discussing leasing its state lottery and Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm this week is expected to propose […]
Enzon Pharmaceuticals Inc. said yesterday it is closing a plant in South Plainfield, N.J., that makes enzyme booster Adagen and the leukemia drug Oncaspar, and consolidating the work at a manufacturing site at 6925 Guion Road on the northwest side. The Bridgewater, N.J.-based company said 50 workers in South Plainfield are affected but didn’t specify […]
A private laboratory and federal and insurance investigators have concluded they cannot determine what caused the spectacular fire at National Magnesium and Aluminum Foundry Inc. in Fort Wayne, according to The Journal Gazette. The Aug. 1 blaze started in the back of the building, the investigators say, but evidence was scattered by exploding gas cylinders. […]
Indianapolis real estate veteran Chris Carmen left Resource Commercial Real Estate Jan. 30 to resurrect his own firm, Carmen Commercial Real Estate Services. Carmen, 48, moved to Indianapolis in 1985 to work for what later became Duke Realty Corp., first in industrial then in office leasing. In the early 1990s, he left to start Carmen […]
Chicago Bears T-shirts are outselling Indianapolis Colts T-shirts by 55-45 margin at Wal-Mart, according to MarketWatch. The figures for NFL-licensed T-shirts are derived from the two weeks leading up to the kick-off. Wal-Mart says the sales have accurately predicted winners of three of the last four Super Bowls.
Indiana’s economy will perform slightly better than the U.S. economy this year, according to a survey of 89 members of the Indiana CPA Society. They also think the Indiana economy will be somewhat stronger than last year’s, and that wages are more likely to rise than they were last year. The organization’s second annual survey […]
Connersville has more problems than Visteon Corp.’s announcement yesterday that it will close its 890-worker automotive heating and air-conditioning components plant in September. The small city east of Indianapolis also no longer has an economic development director. Charlie Dibble, who led the Connersville-Fayette County Economic Development Group, left just one week ago by mutual agreement […]
ArvinMeritor Inc. has sold its Emissions Technology group for $310 million to the New York investment firm One Equity Partners, but the auto exhaust group will have dual headquarters in Columbus and the Detroit area. The dual offices trace to Meritor Automotive Inc.’s 2000 acquisition Columbus-based Arvin Industries Inc. ArvinMeritor, of Troy, Mich., wants to […]
Funds from operations increased 7.5 percent, to $450.4 million, in the fourth quarter for Indianapolis-based shopping mall owner Simon Property Group. For 2006, funds from operations rose 8.9 percent to $1.5 billion. Real estate investment trusts like Simon commonly use the funds from operations measure rather than net income.
United Auto Workers members have “overwhelmingly” approved a plan that attends to labor concerns as Guide Corp. shutters its Anderson and Monroe, La., plants six months ahead of schedule. Employees can pick from seven options that include transfers, buyouts, layoffs and retirement, according to The Herald Bulletin of Anderson. The Pendleton-based maker of car taillights […]
NiSource Inc. won’t comment on a report that it’s negotiating to sell its NIPSCO electric business, but LaPorte County officials nevertheless are lobbying state lawmakers to temporary stop sales of electric utilities, according to The Times of Munster. The northwest Indiana county wants a public-power authority formed to buy the Merrillville-based utility to prevent an […]
Visteon officials informed employees in their Connersville plant today that the facility will close Sept. 1. All 890 employees at the Connersville plant about 60 miles southeast of Indianapolis will be affected, said Kimberley Goode, spokeswoman for Michigan-based Visteon. Goode said it is not clear if those employees will be terminated, given severance packages or […]
Indianapolis-based office supplier ICC Business Products has acquired NBS Office Supply of Goshen in northern Indiana for an undisclosed price. ICC, which supplies print cartridges, printers, and other office supplies, is retaining NBS president and owner Sylvan Schwegman and several key NBS workers. NBS has a satellite office in Warsaw. Schwegman, 64, said the sale […]
Lining up the roughly 8,000 volunteers needed to stage a Super Bowl would be the least of Indianapolis’ worries as civic leaders launch an official bid for the 2011 event, local sports organizers say. Not only would Indianapolis be able to find warm bodies, but the workers almost certainly would be seasoned veterans of […]
Harman-Becker Automotive Systems Inc. is eliminating 84 of its 500 workers in Martinsville as the maker of car speakers moves production to Juarez, Mexico, according to The Reporter-Times of Martinsville. Remaining workers fear more jobs will be lost when other production is moved to China at an unspecified date.
South Bend musical instrument maker Woodwind & Brasswind is being acquired out of bankruptcy by a unit of California-based Guitar Center Inc., which has stores in Indianapolis and Greenwood. A bankruptcy court accepted a $29.9 million bid from Musician’s Friend Inc. after another potential buyer withdrew its offer.
