Tammy Lieber

Perhaps you’d find a live “elf” directing visitors from inside an inflatable lawn Christmas decoration. Maybe young women dressed in wedding gowns would be playing basketball in the gym. Or possibly, one of the featured works of art would be a 3-foot-tall crocheted cigar in a display case, made with yarn, wood, screws and “six cans of cheap beer,” according to its creator, Paul Baumgarten. But behind the scenes of controlled mayhem, Harrison Center Executive Director Joanna Taft and the…

Lafayette Square Mall on the city’s northwest side has all the marks of a decaying urban mall: Most major national retailers have fled, a church occupies a former department store space, and the surrounding neighborhood has fallen out of favor among shoppers and businesses. But is the mall destined for a date with a bulldozer, as has happened with old malls in other cities? Not everyone thinks so. Lafayette Square still has good access from Interstate 65, apparently committed ownership…

When home mortgage lender Fannie Mae this month predicted home sales might fall as much as 10 percent in 2006, Wall Street shuddered. Shares of home builders dropped, temporarily stalling a rally in the broader stock market-and raising questions whether the pace of new subdivisions in central Indiana might slow. Yet despite the discouraging outlook for the national housing market, builders active in central Indiana remain optimistic, singing a common refrain: not here. As it has for the past two…

Kosene & Kosene Residential LLC wants to follow the success of its sold-out Monon Row condominium project in Broad Ripple with two new projects. But it’s facing strong opposition from nearby residents, who say the high-density projects are out of step with the small-town character of the village. The Indianapolis-based developer is seeking rezoning that would allow it to build 23 condos at 66th and Ferguson streets and 28 condos along the Monon Trail south of Broad Ripple. Buildings would…

When you’re trying to lure 20-somethings to your door, it apparently helps to offer booze and cheap seats. Those are common themes of new programs at several local arts organizations concerned with cultivating new audiences and patrons to replace the aging baby boomers. Two cases in point: Jagermeister, a liquor usually happily forgotten by the over-30 crowd, is a sponsor of Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra’s upcoming Happy Hour concert series. At Phoenix Theatre, audience members on the first Thursday of every…

As land is cleared for the final major sections of Carmel’s Village of WestClay, the developer of the Indianapolis area’s most-heralded example of new urbanism is discovering an age-old truth: Plans change. WestClay Uptown and the West Village, as they will be called, represent major changes to Brenwick Development’s plan and reflect changing demand from inside and outside the borders of the 686-acre development. Staying are WestClay’s guiding concepts-a mammoth subdivision designed in the style of a 19th century village…

Carmel-based Brenwick Development Co., known for luxury residential developments in Hamilton County, has struck a deal to buy 66 acres of land at the north end of Crown Hill Cemetery. Brenwick has signed a letter of intent to purchase the wooded land, cemetery President Keith Norwalk confirmed. Negotiations between Brenwick and Crown Hill are in the early stages, Norwalk stressed. He said there won’t be a closing of the transaction anytime soon. “There will be significant negotiation before it’s a…

A recent report lauding the health of Indianapolis’ downtown office market over the next two years may have caused a few bursts of excitement, but they were likely short-lived. New York-based Cushman & Wakefield cited Indianapolis’ downtown as a leading office market nationwide in a recent report, citing the possibility of vacancy around 7 percent in 2007, down from 13.5 percent now. If that happened, it would signal the healthiest downtown office market since the late 1990s. Few local observers…

Developer Paul Kite is back for a third round in his battle with Nora residents to develop a condominium/retail project on the last undeveloped corner of 86th Street and Keystone Avenue. In plans submitted to the city and to neighborhood groups, Kite’s PK Capital LLC has drastically trimmed the number of condo units planned for the 13 acres, but reintroduced the concept of a specialty grocery on the site. PK is working to bring the state’s first Whole Foods Market…