The Arkansas-based goliath has been on a rampage in central Indiana the past five years, building its market share in the local grocery business to 26 percent. When Marsh announced last N ove m b e r that it had hired Merrill Lynch & Co. to explore a s a l e , m a ny o b s e r ve r s attributed the steady decline of the state’s sixth-largest employer to inroads by discount rivals. But a…
Big-ticket bank mergers grabbed plenty of headlines in the past two years. Just don’t let the splashy news stories fool you. The number of players in the Indianapolis banking market is expanding, even amid consolidation in the industry nationwide. Over the past 10 years, the number of banks taking deposits in the metropolitan area has grown from 41 to 56, according to annual data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Analysts attribute much of the growth to smaller banks and…
The Indianapolis Colts' evolution from perennial patsy to Super Bowl favorite is a body of work with a seldom-told—and often misunderstood—history. It's easy to see the hues all-pros Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison and Edgerrin James painted on this masterpiece season. President Bill Polian and Coach Tony Dungy certainly colored the landscape. And Offensive Coordinator Tom Moore added his creativity. But theirs aren't the only signatures on this canvas.
Under Gov. Mitch Daniels, Indiana is renewing its commitment to making sure teachers receive their pensions. But in the process, the state may also put their pension principal at greater risk. State Budget Director Chuck Schalliol said the $7.5 billion Indiana State Teachers’ Retirement Fund is considering expanding its holdings in private equity. The enormous pension fund already allocates 5 percent of its assets, or $240 million, toward such investments, which include venture capital, real estate and leveraged buyouts. Highly…
As the Indianapolis Colts gear up for a run to next month’s Super Bowl, Eli Lilly and Co. already has decided to watch from the sidelines after two straight appearances during the big game. In a marketing strategy shift, the Indianapolis drugmaker will forgo TV commercials for its erectile dysfunction drug Cialis during the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics, which begin Feb. 10. Cialis competitors Viagra and Levitra may join it on the bench, as the pharmaceutical industry trends…
Indianapolis International Airport this month will launch a highly unusual project-shortening a runway. Perhaps just as odd is the reason: Controllers in the airport’s new air traffic control tower, opening next spring, won’t be able to see the southern 324 feet of the 7,604-foot crosswind runway. The FedEx hub is in the way. “The control tower needs to see the surface of the runway,” said John Kish, manager of the $1 billion midfield terminal construction project that necessitated the new…
After years of angling and months of negotiating, city and state officials finally came to an agreement with the Indianapolis Colts to build a $625 million retractableroof stadium south of the RCA Dome. With a drum roll and a crowd of 1,200 fans and dignitaries counting down-three, two, one-Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, Gov. Mitch Daniels, Mayor Bart Peterson and others shoveled a little dirt on the future home of the city’s new stadium in a formal ground breaking Sept. 21….
PSI Energy Inc. has reached a preliminary settlement with the state’s utility consumer counselor on how its 750,000 Indiana ratepayers will fare under the merger of parent Cinergy Corp. with Duke Energy. Details of the agreement aren’t ready to be released, said Angeline Protogere, spokeswoman for the Plainfield-based utility. But filings both sides made last month with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission suggest that ratepayers could receive credits on their bills 21 percent greater than previously estimated by PSI. The…
Drive less than 20 minutes from almost any crossroads in Indiana and you’ll come across a feature of the Midwest landscape we take for granted: farmland. The vast open space in abundance between our state’s urban areas remains dominated by the industry that once employed more people than any other: agriculture. And while the sights of barns, cropland and animals grazing in pastures are familiar to us all, we should remember that looks can be deceiving. Plenty of changes are…
F ine-tuning a business strategy Local violinmaker finds success by raising prices John Welch made a counterintuitive business decision two years ago. The violin business was in decline. Asian manufacturers were turning out high-quality stringed instruments for a fraction of the price of their American competitors. Welch decided to swim against the current. He raised prices. “We realized the only way to compete with the Chinese was to improve our quality,” said Welch, CEO of Indianapolis-based Sofia Violins. “We realized…
Salsa outsells ketchup. Tortillas fly off the shelves almost as fast as white bread. And if you’re looking for these new staples of the American diet, Indianapolis is increasingly a good place to find them. Sixteen years ago, there were three Latino grocery stores in Indianapolis, according to Manuel Gonzalez, president of the Indiana State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Today, there are more than 40. And that’s just the places that specialize in products like milpero tomatoes and serrano chilies….
For young and growing companies, initial public offerings are a bit like climbing a mountain: a long, harsh toil to reach a distant summit. But planting a flag at the peak isn’t enough. To make the journey worthwhile, companies must stay there. The payoff can be enormous, in the form of ready access to capital. But operating at such a high altitude requires careful footing. And the effort costs more than some can afford. “It’s a double-edged sword,” said George…
The state of Indiana has taken a first step in overhauling how it manages its real estate by selecting a local firm to sell surplus property. Meridian Asset Development was notified Oct. 12 of the state’s intent to award it a contract to manage the sale of potentially hundreds of acres of land the state owns. A contract could be in place within two weeks, pending negotiations over the exact terms, said Kevin Ober, deputy commissioner for the Indiana Department…
An interchange linking Interstate 65 and County Line Road completed six years ago is finally helping attract large commercial development to a busy Johnson County corridor. While Greenwood city officials are pleased by the amount of activity occurring there, they question why it took so long. “We thought it would take off much sooner than it did,” said Ed Ferguson, Greenwood’s director of planning, zoning and economic development. “We still have several hundred acres available in what we call the…
Several groups are floating plans and crunching numbers for downtown hotel or condo projects east of Circle Centre mall, an area that has been largely passed over for new developments in recent years. One of the more imminent projects is a large mixed-use development for the quarter-block at Maryland and Pennsylvania streets, now occupied by surface parking lots and a 9,000-squarefoot office building. A group that includes local developer J. Greg Allen has four separate parcels at the corner under…
In Harrisburg, Pa., last week, a trial was in progress. Attorneys and witnesses weighed in on a federal case involving the Dover Area School District. Last year, school board members there voted 6-3 to impose a curriculum mandate. It said “intelligent design,” the newfangled term for what used to be called Creationism (the biblical explanation of how life began), must be taught in high school biology classes alongside science-based theories such as evolution and random selection. After the vote, the…
Consumers who have been contemplating bankruptcy are now flocking to file before more stringent regulations take effect Oct. 17. Federal lawmakers passed a bankruptcy reform measure in March to make it harder for people to wipe away unsecured debt while keeping some protected assets. The aim is to curb perceived abuses of the system by shepherding more filers through Chapter 13-instead of Chapter 7-which requires consumers to at least repay some debt. Indiana already has a high bankruptcy rate. The…
A Michigan developer plans to build a 300,000-square-foot shopping center anchored by a Wal-Mart Supercenter along Michigan Road north of 106th Street, continuing the rapid expansion of retail on the Michigan Road corridor. Heritage RDG LLC, a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based developer new to the Indianapolis market, recently filed plans with town officials in both Zionsville and Carmel to build the center. The 36-acre parcel straddles the Boone-Hamilton county line and must be approved by local governments in both counties. Project…
“That’s called bioaugmentation,” said Pat Kiel, executive director of the Indiana Ready Mix Concrete Association. “Concrete science meets bioscience.” Nearly 90 percent of pollutants are typically carried by the first 1-1/2 inches of a daily rainfall into rivers and streams, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA requires that the first threefourths of an inch of rain each day be maintained on site until treated. Typically, most of that water, which includes “first flush” contaminants, is collected in…
In February, Goldsmith suspended construction while he and advisers analyzed options. Within months, he gave Circle Centre the green light, and construction resumed-but not because he was convinced the project would succeed. “In the end, we decided job creation in the urban core and the psychological survival of the city were dependent on some development occurring downtown,” recalled Goldsmith, now a professor at Harvard University. “We went forward with the mall with great anxiety.” Today, 10 years after the September…
