Cities and counties are looking for alternatives to asphalt as the price soars for the oil-based material and threatens
to bring paving projects and contractors skidding to a halt. The city of Indianapolis may have just found
one viable alternative that goes down like asphalt: roller-compacted concrete, or "rollcrete."
The completion of $2 billion in city construction projects has left a gaping hole in contractor job schedules-as wide as when the roof opens at Lucas Oil Stadium. Even so, industry leaders remain optimistic about staying busy despite the combination of a tepid economy and the end of a local boom that stretched the limits of the labor pool. The $1.1 billion airport midfield terminal project, the $715 million stadium and $150 million Central Library expansion helped to create so…
The golden dome that sits atop Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church under construction in Carmel provides a curious sight for those in central Indiana. But what is even more unusual about the massive structure underneath the dome is a Sixth Century Byzantine design like no other in the world. “There’s no design like this in history, and it’s never been built before,” said San Francisco architect Christ [pronounced Chris] Kamages, designer of the church. His CJK Design Group specializes in…
Elanco, the animal health division of Eli Lilly and Co., will move into a new 135,000-square-foot headquarters in Greenfield by the spring of 2010, the company announced today. Elanco’s new offices will go up on the northwest corner of State Road 9 and I-70, where Indianapolis developer Browning Investments Inc. is building a 52-acre life […]
An Atlanta firm is hoping to revive the development of a Whole Foods grocery at the northwest corner of 86th Street and Keystone Avenue. Dominion Capital, which took over the site…
Re-entry key in city’s plot to fight crime Mayor makes push, hires director to help more ex-convicts find work Makeba Averitte spent more than seven years incarcerated in Indiana, Kentucky and Oklahoma prisons paying for the robbery he committed as a young man with few prospects. Since his release in 2004, the 32-year-old has obtained a driver’s license and insurance on his automobile, not to mention a bit more wisdom. But what eludes him most-even more so now as a…
Since its origins as the Widows and Orphans Asylum in 1851, the Children’s Bureau has been working to
fix broken families in Indianapolis. Now the local not-for-profit has expanded its reach into 37 Indiana
counties–growing its budget 22 percent in the process. But the agency remains focused on Marion County, where it’s building
a $9.2 million service center at 16th and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. streets.
SURF THIS This Olympic year, NBC got it right-online and off I already miss the Olympics. Perhaps due to my overactive patriotic gene, the overdeveloped sports fan gene, or the finetuned sucker-for-agood-story gene (or some combination of all three), I found the entire event strangely compelling. I’ve paid attention to the Olympics before, but this year it had some captivating affect on me that was altogether new. I found I could watch beach volleyball or fencing with equal enthusiasm. I…
Ivy Tech cooking up plans for more culinary space Growing program hopes to build $7 million school at Glick Center Popular television cooking shows such as “Iron Chef,” “Emeril Live,” “Top Chef” and, dare we mention, “Hell’s Kitchen,” have brought the interest in culinary careers to a boil. To help meet demand locally, Indiana Business College opened a Chef’s Academy downtown nearly two years ago. Now, Ivy Tech Community College is expanding its existing program by building a culinary school…
Buyers in Seattle, Milwaukee and even Bloomington have snapped up new cottage homes in developments that
turn the McMansion trend on its dormer-decorated head. But will Indianapolis buyers have a similar appetite
for the tiny energy-efficient homes clustered around community greens? A local developer is betting they
will.
Makeba Averitte spent more than seven years incarcerated in Indiana, Kentucky and Oklahoma prisons paying for the robbery he committed as a young man with few prospects. Since his release in 2004, the 32-year-old has obtained a driver’s license and insurance on his automobile, not to mention a bit more wisdom. But what eludes him most-even more so now as a convicted felon-is a steady, goodpaying job. Tired of temporary work, he enrolled in Second Chance at the United Northeast…
Since its origins as the Widows and Orphans Asylum in 1851, the Children’s Bureau has been working to fix broken families in Indianapolis. Now the local not-for-profit has expanded its reach into 37 Indiana counties-growing its budget 22 percent in the process. Despite the regional push, the agency remains focused on Marion County, where it’s building a $9.2 million service center at 16th and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. streets. The engine driving the organization’s recent growth: a statewide program…
I already miss the Olympics. Perhaps due to my overactive patriotic gene, the overdeveloped sports fan gene, or the finetuned sucker-for-agood-story gene (or some combination of all three), I found the entire event strangely compelling. I’ve paid attention to the Olympics before, but this year it had some captivating affect on me that was altogether new. I found I could watch beach volleyball or fencing with equal enthusiasm. I watched handball matches (which was not at all the game I’d…
Popular television cooking shows such as “Iron Chef,” “Emeril Live,” “Top Chef” and, dare we mention, “Hell’s Kitchen,” have brought the interest in culinary careers to a boil. To help meet demand locally, Indiana Business College opened a Chef’s Academy downtown nearly two years ago. Now, Ivy Tech Community College is expanding its existing program by building a culinary school in Indianapolis at the Gene B. Glick Junior Achievement Education Center on North Keystone Avenue. Enrollment in Ivy Tech’s two-year…
Charter Homes owner Jerry Jaquess fancies himself a white knight for King Park, a neighborhood once known mainly for its
rampant crime, boarded-up homes and vacant lots. But as he’s constructed a slew of homes and carriage houses there, the local
builder has stirred up several lawsuits, dozens of liens and persistent questions about whether his business is legit.
On a typical Saturday at Smock Golf Course on the city’s south side, visitors are treated to a symphony of thwacks, pings
and the occasional plunk. In good or bad economic times, it seems, people in Indiana and across the country have always played
golf. But these days, the sound of that symphony has waned. Nationwide, the number of rounds of golf played through the first
half of this year is down 2 percent from last year. In Central Indiana, the situation is worse.
When big publicly held companies snapped up local heating, cooling and plumbing companies in the late 1990s, Tom Godby thought he needed to get on board. “I didn’t want to miss that tidal wave of change,” he said. Godby was the sole owner of Godby Brothers Heating and Air Conditioning LLC, which had been in the Indianapolis market for three decades when Godby sold it to American Residential Services in 1997. But instead of being the industry’s new face, the…
Citizens Gas & Coke Utility on Aug. 25 will announce a new name and logo that reflect the diversification of its energy businesses and the closure last year of its 98-year-old foundry coke plant. Citizens Energy Group will be the name of the parent, a utility founded 120 years ago. Two units-Citizens Gas and Citizens Thermal-will retain their names. But a third, Citizens By-Products, will be renamed Citizens Resources. “We’re entering a new era,” said Citizens President and CEO Carey…
B e f o r e w r i t i n g about energy matters, I am going to have to make a confession. I am a closet environmentalist. I support a wide range of environmental policies and think it often makes good business sense to go green. But sadly, far too many supporters of environmental policy look at the world through green-colored glasses. One result is that it is increasingly difficult to take many environmentalists seriously. One verdant…
It was the chocolate chip cookies. My wife, Janie, who for years has entered her award-winning baked goods in the Indiana State Fair, was upset because she failed to earn a blue ribbon last summer. Upon inquiry, she was informed that her chocolate chip cookies were slightly burned on the bottom. (I have always been one of her official tasters, and they looked OK to me.) She blamed her lack of success on an unreliable 25-year-old oven that had to…
