SEPT. 13-19, 2019
This week, Mickey Shuey takes a closer look at the big split at the heart of high-end developer Litz and Eaton. At least a dozen subcontractors and suppliers say they’re owed more than $500,000, and work has stalled on more than $16 million in projects. Also in this week’s issue, Susan Orr gets a handle on how companies in central Indiana are dealing with the expenses of tariffs in the trade war between the U.S. and China. And Samm Quinn gets us better acquainted with the first class of chefs to take residence at the Fishers Test Kitchen. Focusing on street foods, they’ll use the test kitchen to learn the ropes and then launch their concepts.
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Developer Litz & Eaton split leaves messy trail
Five years after the prominent developer upped its business ambitions—going from a home-renovation firm to high-end, multi-home projects—the firm is unraveling.
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Hoosier manufacturers feel trade war sting
As the U.S./China trade war drags on, advanced manufacturers in central Indiana are scrambling to determine their best course of action—and there are no easy answers.
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Restaurant chain prospers by staying out of the street-side marketplace
Carmel-based CC Holdings manages dozens of restaurants and coffee shops, but few are in conventional locations.
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Elanco’s $7.6 billion purchase puts longtime executive to the test
Jeff Simmons has been with Greenfield-based Elanco Animal Health for two decades and has run it for 11 years. But he’s never faced pressure like this. Elanco, which was founded in 1954, operated in relative anonymity for most of its existence, serving as a comparatively small division of the publicly traded drug giant Eli Lilly […]
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Mayoral candidates on board with bus rapid transit expansion
The city’s first bus rapid-transit line is up and running, but public-transportation advocates are just getting started—and they’re hoping the next mayor of Indianapolis is on board.
Read MoreQ&A with Chad Halstead, an Opportunity Zone adviser
For the past 12 years, Chad Halstead, 39, has helped land government incentives for some of the area’s biggest real estate developments.
Read MoreNew 104-room hotel planned for Old Southside neighborhood
A local investment group plans to spend $9 million to $10 million to construct the four-story hotel at 324 Wilkins St. If approved, the development would bring a new, fast-growing midscale hotel brand to Indianapolis.
Read MoreIHPC gives preliminary critique of plans for fieldhouse renovation
While most members of the historic preservation commission were pleased with the early designs for revamping and expanding Bankers Life Fieldhouse, some believed the more contemporary vibe failed to mesh with the fieldhouse’s old-school character.
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Fleet of robots making munchie runs for Purdue students
About the size of a tailgate-party beer cooler, the robots can cross streets, climb curbs, travel at night and operate in both rain and snow. The service from a San Francisco-base startup launched Monday.
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Fishers Test Kitchen helping young chefs give it a go
Three chefs will take up residency at the kitchen for one to two years, showcasing their food, gaining business skills, and building a local following in preparation for moving on to open their own locations.
Read MoreKittle’s Furniture invests in Zionsville online retail startup
Kittle’s Furniture has provided seed funding to accelerate retail startup ParkerGwen.com’s growth, the companies announced Monday.
Read MoreHamilton County cities, towns prepare to vote on local income tax increase
The proposed local income tax increase would generate $16 million of new funding for the county’s 911 center.
Read MoreState Road 37 revamp kicks off Monday in Hamilton County
The three-year project has been a long time coming. Conversations about alleviating congestion on S.R. 37 in Fishers and Noblesville began in 2005.
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Editorial: $66M project deserves incentives, but many developments don’t
We wish other incentive deals had fostered such vigorous debate, such as the council’s decision last year to provide $2.9 million in TIF financing for Duke Realty Corp.’s new $28 million headquarters in Keystone at the Crossing—an area of the city that’s already a magnet for development.
Read MoreMICKEY MAURER: Preparing to retire isn’t purely a financial exercise
Most experts emphasize the money angle, but I’m here to tell you there’s more to it than that.
Read MoreEvan Reinhardt: Protect home health care for elderly Hoosiers
Sen. Todd Young is at the forefront of the fight to protect this important care sector through new federal legislation. The bill Young supports would refine new Medicare payment policies to ensure care services are not interrupted.
Read MoreMarshawn Wolley: Black Indy exists in a policy desert, needs an agenda
The inconvenient truth is that, for much of the 20th century, there were formal and informal race-based policies meant to control or diminish black Indianapolis. These policies affected where we could live, who could have certain public contracts, and even the education of black children.
Read MoreKIM: How Luck’s move explains the inverted yield curve
While Luck’s retirement obviously has nothing to do with the inversion of the yield curve, I’ve often found the world of sports provides useful analogies to the world of investing.
Read MoreBOHANON & CUROTT: A region where immigrants fulfill an economic need
Even the most horrendous human tragedies can have a silver lining—that is, if government policies don’t get in the way.
Read MoreSamantha Julka: Let’s establish a few workspace boundaries
People need to feel like they have their own space—at their work stations, in conference rooms and more.
Read MoreLetter: Indiana behind in renewable power
Indiana lags behind other states in setting a renewable energy standard yet wind power is a local resource that has the potential to generate huge economic gains for our state.
Read MoreLetter: Public disclosure needs advocates
It’s a shame that regulatory agencies, with their increasing use of chief communications officer job titles, too often display an “us vs. them” attitude.
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Downtown’s E’laan apartment building set for sale, $5M expansion
An upscale apartment building in downtown Indianapolis is expected to be acquired at the end of this month by a local firm that is planning an expansion project that will almost triple the number of units in the property.
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Council approves incentives for $66M downtown project
The Indianapolis City-County Council on Monday night approved nearly $10 million in financial incentives for a Denver-based developer that is planning a 13-story apartment, retail and office project across the street from the Indiana War Memorial.
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Brickyard 400 sees improved attendance
Advance sales for the race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway topped 50,000 tickets, but walk-up business was limited by a threat of rain on Sunday.
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Frontier adding seasonal flights to Cancun
Frontier Airlines plans to add seasonal twice-weekly flights between Indianapolis and Cancun, Mexico, the airline announced Tuesday.
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Bob Behning: ILEARN is an important snapshot of student learning
While the results are not the ones we had hoped for, the value of Hoosier students and teachers is not defined by test scores, but by the learning being accomplished in the classroom.
Read MorePhil GiaQuinta: Tests are wrong way to judge schools, students, teachers
This is all too typical of education policies formulated by Republicans in recent years that have resulted in poor pay for teachers, underfunded public schools and millions of dollars thrown at unaccountable programs like virtual charter schools.
Read MoreBill Oesterle: 38th Street is not a highway, but it’s treated like one
Streets are about moving people, not just cars. They are about living and commerce.
Read MoreDanny Lopez: Reform—don’t end—refugee resettlement policy
America’s asylum and resettlement program is an important arrow in our foreign diplomacy quiver.
Read MoreShariq Siddiqui: One way Trump isn’t so bad for Muslim Americans
Politicians, advocacy organizations and other groups opposed to President Trump that have taken on Islamophobia.
Read MoreAbdul-Hakim Shabazz: My ‘black agenda’ for the city of Indianapolis
The city should increase opportunities for more school choice.
Read MoreRandall T. Shepard: DCS official’s resignation reveals much
Gov. Eric Holcomb spoke for us all when he told The Star he was ‘disgusted by what I read.
Read MoreJim Shella: Scoops don’t wait for sentimental moments
TV stations used to sit on breaking news until the 6 p.m. newscast for optimum impact. No longer.
Read MoreTom LoBianco: When to cover words and when to cover action
The rise of digital media … has driven a new culture that is based on driving up clicks and so-called ‘engagement’—and pissing matches fit the bill.
Read MorePierre Atlas: On guns, the political winds may be shifting
While the Constitution guarantees a right to firearms ownership, no right is absolute, not even the right to bear arms.”
Read MoreLet’s treat gun violence like a public health problem
We are currently entertaining changes in policy that sound good or intuitive but are not necessarily data-driven and evidenced-based.
Read MoreMarshawn Wolley: Red Line offers hope to residents trying to move up
I find some irony in the naming of the Red Line giving the legacy of redlining in the black community.
Read MoreCurt Smith: A skeptical but hopeful view of the Red Line
When the system starts charging, and the weather turns cold, will folks walk blocks to the bus and give up the convenience of point-to-point driving?
Read MoreRiley Parr: The real political divide is more freedom vs. less
An intended consequence for liberals is that by using government action, they hope to achieve the desired end now.
Read MoreMichael Leppert: Don’t count on the ostriches to save us
Our federal government has its head buried in the sand.
Read MoreDeborah Daniels: Our country is worse for Dan Coats’ resignation
He continued to provide honest assessments of the threats facing the country.
Read MoreJennifer Wagner: Talking to our children on the anniversary of 9/11
How do you boil down something so horrific … for an 11-year-old who doesn’t yet understand international political alliances or diplomatic differences?
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MIKE LOPRESTI: Sunday at the sportsbook— a new house of worship
The Indiana Grand Casino’s new sportsbook was full of high hopes and dashed dreams as Hoosiers placed their bets on the first full day of NFL action.
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