Conner’s Kitchen + Bar part of downtown Marriott’s new restaurant lineup

Welcome to Property Lines! I’ll be serving up some restaurant and retail news today, and the main course is a pair of new establishments opening in the recently renovated Indianapolis Marriott Downtown at 350 W. Maryland St.

The 650-room hotel overhauled the restaurants as part of a $40 million renovation project by Merrillville-based White Lodging, which acquired the property along with Carmel-based REI Investments from Bethesda, Maryland-based LaSalle Hotel Properties for $165 million in 2016.

Conner’s Kitchen + Bar, which opened Wednesday and replaces Champions, describes its menu as "elevated Midwest cuisine." The food and beverage department at White Lodging, which manages the Indianapolis Marriott Downtown, created the concept specifically for the property. White Lodging affiliates own the hotel.

Conner’s serves breakfast, weekend brunch, lunch and dinner, local craft brews and offers outdoor patio seating. Menu items include salads, burgers and comfort-food dishes like fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, ribs and meatloaf.

Set to open Monday at the Marriott is Rye Bar, which the hotel describes as “a plush comfortable lounge for wine and classic cocktails."

To round out the blog “plate,” some side dishes: 

— The grill and pub franchise Wings Etc. Inc. will open another Indianapolis location, at 1399 N. Shadeland Ave., on Tuesday. Franchisees are Jayne and Bob McClain, who have more than 20 years of experiences as franchisees with Arby’s. Wings Etc. was founded in 1994 and is based in Fort Wayne. The company has 54 stores in eight states. Its Central Indiana locations are in Indianapolis, Crawfordsville, Franklin, Greenfield, Noblesville and Plainfield. 

— Bell Racing USA LLC has opened a Bell Helmets pro shop at 1330 Main St. in Speedway. The space includes an office, showroom and custom shop.Based in Champaign, Illinois, Bell Racing sells helmets and accessories for the auto racing industry.

— Macy’s Inc.’s new store-in-store outlet concept, Macy’s Backstage, opens Saturday at its Greenwood Park Mall and Tippecanoe Mall (Lafayette) locations. As IBJ reported last month, the Greenwood shop will occupy 17,500 square feet of space on the first floor of Macy’s 154,900-square-foot store. Macy’s launched the Backstage concept in 2015. The retailer had 52 Backstage locations at the end of last year, with plans to open another 100 this year. The outlets sell a variety of merchandise, including clothing, jewelry, handbags, pet supplies and gourmet food.

— A Kate Spade store is set to open this summer at Edinburgh Premium Outlets, the mall has announced. The 3,521-square-foot store will sell clothing, accessories, handbags, jewelry, shoes, select home goods, fragrances and cosmetics. A specific opening date has not been announced.