Riverside Manufacturing was a sleepy New Castle firm with $5 million in sales when Fred Merritt bought it to try his hand
at running a company. Five years later, Riverside’s sales have grown a whopping 800 percent, it dominates its industry, and
Merritt, 39, is ready to work his magic on an Indianapolis company.
Sooner or later, in the life of almost every building owner, there comes a time when a structure has outlived its usefulness in its current condition. A choice between two options must be made. Do we renovate or do we demolish and build something totally new? The answer is by no means easy or automatic. Confronted with these options, an owner must grapple with a host of issues. The following sample is not exhaustive but may prove helpful as a…
A growing percentage of men and women nationwide are reaching a career crossroads at a time when most would hope to have it
made. Almost a quarter of the 3.8 million Americans displaced from their jobs from 2003-2005 were 55 or older, according to
the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, up from 21 percent in the prior three years.
LESSONS LEARNED ALBERT RENE TREVINO Owner, Rene’s Bakery As most entrepreneurs can attest, the process of running a small business includes facing plenty of challenges. But viewing those potential obstacles as opportunities has helped Albert Rene Trevino build Rene’s Bakery Inc. into a growing enterprise with a solid reputation. One of his biggest trials was getting the doors to his Broad Ripple shop open. Trevino had just parted ways with a former employer in 2004 when he stopped by the…
First Indiana Corp.’s announcement that it would be sold to Milwaukee-based Marshall & Ilsley Corp. for $529 million in cash
came just 17 days after sale discussions began. Banking observers have speculated for weeks that First Indiana acted fast
to cut a deal before it would have to report second-quarter results.
Michigan-based Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust and a Chicago-based partner, Heilman LLC, have purchased Nora Plaza on the northeast side for an undisclosed price. The 304,000-square-foot center is 93-percent occupied and anchored by a Target store, plus Wild Oats Natural Marketplace and Marshalls. The seller was locally based PK Partners LLC, which owns several other retail centers […]
For two years in a row, the Indianapolis-Carmel metro area has been the nation’s most affordable major housing market, the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo said yesterday. An index shows that 87 percent of new and existing homes sold in the second quarter were affordable to families earning the area’s $63,800 median […]
It’s taken contractors 16 months, but repairs to thousands of central Indiana houses and cars following storms in March and April of last year finally are winding down. Marc Fairchild, vice president of claims at Indiana Farmers Mutual Insurance Co. in Carmel, said only 10 of the 4,330 claims his firm logged remain open. “It […]
I N T H I S I S S U E FOCUS:Insurance&BenefitsQuarterly19-24 Employerslooktohealthsavingsaccountsforpremiumrelief19 OneAmericaingoodpositiontogrowthroughacquisition19 NOTSTRICTLYBUSINESS45-47 15 A&EbyLouHarry:FringecharacterspopulateaFringeFilmhighlight45 Dining:FritesatBruggeBrasserie45 FunnyBusinessbyMikeRedmond:TheWorldofTomorrowhovers,preparestoland46 SportsbyBillBenner:Plentytochewonforsportsfansofeverystripe47 PERIMETER15-18 HendricksCounty:Brownsburgluresdrag-racingfirms15 45 BehindtheNews:Andrews4OPINION & EDITORIAL HowmortgagemeltdownsankOakStreet,Commentary:ChrisKatterjohn10othersIBJ’sEnterpriseAwardhits25 EconomicAnalysis:Barkey28AEditorial10 PartingthoughtsonIndiana’sstrengths,Dunnexitshowsboarddoingjobweaknesses EyeonthePie:Marcus11ClassifiedsandInternetDirectory34-35LifegoesondespitepropertytaxesPeople18Viewpoint:DeborahJ.Daniels11ReturnonTechnology:Altom32Helpingex-offendershelpsallofusSavingprinterpaperdoesn’tsavemuchmoneyRECORDS SmallBusinessProfile40Calendar33FundRaising41It’sadog’slifeConventions33InRecognition41 LISTS LargestIndianapolis-AreaRetirementSTOCKS Communities26Investing:Hauke28LargestIndianapolis-AreaAssisted-LivingDominoeffectworsenedwoesinsubprimeFacilities37market ProxyCorner:IrwinFinancialCorp.31 COMPANY INDEX This index does not include companies mentioned in letters to the editor, lists, charts and records. The page numbers listed refer to the pages where articles begin. 3S Karting Supply ………………17 Conseco Inc……………………….30 Interactive Intelligence Inc……10 Precedent Commercial 96th Street Steakburgers……….1 Crowe Chizek…
Just three years ago, Steve Alonso was at the top of his game. The veteran mortgage banker was a finalist for Ernst & Young’s Indiana entrepreneur of the year award, and his fast-growing company, Oak Street Mortgage, was ready ing for a $150 million initial public offering. Investors should feel fortunate the IPO never happened. Today, Oak Street sits in the evergrowing scrap heap of firms that failed amid the meltdown of the subprime-lending market. “I think we built a…
By the time you read this, Gen-Con-one of our town’s largest conventions-will have packed up its multisided dice, folded its cowled costumes, and drunk its final Mountain Dew (at least for this year). How you feel about this convergence of game players will influence, in part, how you feel about “A Great Disturbance,” a feature film to be screened Aug. 17, 24 and 31 as part of Fringe-Film, the new movie component of the 3-year-old IndyFringe Festival. To be clear,…
Scotty’s Brewhouse, the Indiana college town institution, is working on plans for new restaurants in downtown Indianapolis, Chicago and Charlotte, N.C. The restaurant would like to locate at Pan Am Plaza, said…
With so many new fitness chains entering the central Indiana market, will Hoosier become synonymous with svelte? The latest additions: A Minnesota fitness chain has plans for new locations in Avon, Brownsburg, Carmel,…
When Lisa Jarrett was expecting her fourth child in 1991, her obstetrician husband pulled out an article he had read in a medical journal about a prenatal audio development system. Created by physician and researcher Brent Logan, the system is designed to help a baby’s brain develop before it is born by introducing simple rhythms similar to the mother’s heartbeat. “It’s a cognitive curriculum,” Jarrett said. After obtaining Logan’s tapes and using them through her next three pregnancies, she was…
First Indiana Corp. announced poor second-quarter financial results Aug. 7-which raises this interesting question: Did the city’s biggest locally owned bank race to sell itself last month because the results otherwise would have caused its stock to tumble? Even before the earnings report, banking observers were abuzz that the $529 million sale to Milwaukee-based Marshall & Ilsley Corp. seemed rushed. While many expected First Indiana to sell eventually, CEO Robert Warrington had seemed hellbent on improving results first to drive…
Downtown and suburban vacancy rates are declining slightly or at least holding steady-a positive sign for an Indianapolis office market absorbing a plethora of new space on the city’s north side. The second-quarter vacancy rate for the central business district dropped to 15.9 percent, from 16.7 percent the previous quarter, according to data from the local office of St. Louis-based commercial real estate firm Colliers Turley Martin Tucker. A similar report from the local office of Los Angeles-based CB Richard…
On summer Saturdays, Ross Faris starts work at 4:30 a.m., packing up zucchini, peaches and other produce for the trek to farmers’ markets in Broad Ripple and Zionsville. Then he stands in the 90-plus-degree heat, answering questions about heirloom tomatoes or new varieties of peppers, greeting regulars and loving every minute of it. “It’s just a rewarding experience,” Faris said. “I can’t tell you how many people appreciate what we do here.” Faris, owner of Indianapolis-based Your Neighbor’s Garden, is…
A blog that follows Silicon Valley gossip is implying that new Indiana University President Michael McRobbie had a conflict of interest when IU formed a partnership with Carmel-based ChaCha Search Inc. The blog, ValleyWag, said the deal appears suspicious because McRobbie had a long history as an IU information technology and research executive before becoming […]
Standard & Poor’s and A.M. Best have downgraded debt of Conseco Inc. after second-quarter earnings released by the Carmel-based insurer Monday evening disappointed investors. Standard & Poor’s bumped senior debt ratings and counterparty credit ratings to B+ from BB-. A.M. Best cut its rating to B+ from B++. Conseco said its loss widened to $64.5 […]
Stock in Conseco Inc. slipped 6 percent this morning to trade near $17 after the Carmel-based life and health insurer reported yesterday that its losses widened in its second quarter. The $64.5 million setback resulted from pouring more money into its hemorrhaging long-term care reserves and into a class-action lawsuit settlement over life insurance policies. […]
