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Amy Isbell-Williams
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SPORTS: A history lesson for 21st century stadium critics

July 25, 2005

It is Oct. 20, 1971. I am standing near Market and Alabama streets, where the groundbreaking has taken place for a venue to be called Market Square Arena. The price tag is a salty $23 million, and the project has attracted critics and naysayers who wonder about the city’s priorities, especially since our mayor, Richard Lugar, is using federal revenuesharing funds to help pay for the arena. Plus, Lugar has this wacky idea about using the arena as a catalyst…

City planners seek ways to replace PRI convention: Annual event was big money maker each December

August 1, 2005

Indianapolis hospitality leaders have launched a campaign to make up for the loss of a huge racing industry convention that is taking a hiatus from the city for the next half-decade. The Performance Racing Industry, or PRI, trade show has been a major event for the Indianapolis’ convention business for seven years, annually bringing up to 40,000 visitors to the city who spend more than $26.7 million. This event was especially valued because it typically took place in early December,…

Smaller-sized meetings bring in big bucks for city: Hospitality group sees value in events of all scales

August 1, 2005

Even event planners hire event planners. When Cynthia Howell needed to plan an event in the city for a state health care organization, she called Betsy Ward, a member of the meetings team at the Indianapolis Convention and Visitors Association. With what Howell calls minimal effort on her part, the Indiana Primary Health Care Association Inc. will stay in 50 rooms for two nights at the Sheraton Indianapolis Hotel and Suites at Keystone at the Crossing this fall. The group…

University Place getting major makeover: New owner IUPUI investing $13M in renovation of 18-year-old hotel

August 1, 2005

A hotel built during an era in which Indianapolis first laid claim to its title of Amateur Sports Capital of the World has a new owner that is spending millions of dollars to bring the structure into the new century. University Place Conference Center & Hotel, on the campus of IUPUI, opened amid the fanfare of the Pan American Games hosted by Indianapolis in 1987. Nearly 4,500 athletes from 38 countries converged on downtown, including a throng of media that…

NASCAR puts marketer in fast lane: Brown builds reputation for closing big sponsorship deals

August 8, 2005

Zak Brown retired as a race car driver years ago. But he’s never moved faster than he does today as the founder and president of Indianapolis-based Just Marketing. On the heels of this year’s Brickyard 400, Brown expects to announce two more major NASCAR sponsorship deals brokered by his company. Those deals-which he can’t yet discuss-along with recent deals to bring Johnnie Walker and Hilton Hotels to Formula One, will bring his sponsorship portfolio to near $150 million annually. Though…

Who’ll fill it?: Nordstrom a possibility for Ayres space

August 8, 2005

Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and Dillard’s may be candidates to fill pending department store vacancies at Castleton and Greenwood Park malls if smaller retailers don’t end up filling the void. The merger of the Federated and May department store companies that’s creating the vacancies is the latest move in a decades-long trend of consolidation in the industry. Some observers speculate a nondepartment-store retailer could end up occupying the space after the L.S. Ayres at Castleton Square and Macy’s in Greenwood close…

Hotel on tap for half of Riverpointe complex: Bloomington owner, Doras to team up on conversion

August 22, 2005

A joint venture between a local hotel operator and the owner of three downtown apartment buildings is bringing an extended-stay hotel to the west side of White River near IUPUI. Bloomington-based Pinnacle Asset Management and Indianapolis-based Dora Brothers Hospitality Corp. purchased Riverpointe Apartments in June. The partnership plans to convert the north tower of the two-building complex into a 143-room Candlewood Suites, said Dora President Timothy Dora. The south tower will remain apartments, but will be extensively renovated, said Pinnacle…

IMS mulls hotel: Convention-level facility connected to track would diversify Speedway’s revenue stream

August 22, 2005

Sources close to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway say management is working on plans for a convention-level hotel on a 16-acre lot just south of the track’s 16th Street entrance. Under consideration is a multilevel hotel connected to the track via a skywalk and a new set of track-side suites and condos near turn two where the Brickyard Crossing Inn sits. The inn would be torn down to make room for the suites and condos, which will better complement the new…

CHRIS KATTERJOHN Commentary: Let’s emulate user-friendly Portland

August 22, 2005

I travel a fair amount for both business and pleasure, and I’ve been to several major U.S. cities. Most of the time, I return from these adventures thinking that wherever it was I visited had nothing on Indianapolis. In fact, I usually think those cities can learn a lot from us. This time, it was different. I’ve just returned from a place that’s doing a lot of things right … a place that has employed some ideas and programs our…

VIEWPOINT: Customers in search of the ‘wow’ factor

August 29, 2005

“Please step up and use the self-service check-in screen,” the airline customer service representative told the man in front of me on a recent busy Monday morning. “No,” was the quick and startling response. “I don’t want to. I prefer to deal with a human being.” It was the CSR’s response that stopped me in my tracks. “Then, Sir, deal with another airline,” she said as she turned to deal with a luggage issue. Maybe it was the starkness of…

City’s mall gamble paid off: After 10 years, Circle Centre at core of rejuvenated downtown

September 5, 2005

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…

Computer Renditions: Technology firm building from plateau Computer Renditions on target to grow revenue in 2005

September 5, 2005

Being robbed in broad daylight on your first day as a small-business owner is not exactly a good omen, but it didn’t stop Computer Renditions Inc. founder Christopher Stater. Stater was headed to a meeting with IT consulting client Anheuser-Busch one morning 11 years ago when he was accosted in a Columbus, Ohio, hotel parking lot. A robber sprayed his face with a chemical fire extinguisher and stole his briefcase. “They made me go to a hospital,” Stater remembered, “but…

GERALD BEPKO Commentary: FFA is important to our future

September 12, 2005

What major, national, student-oriented not-for-profit organization with deep roots in Kansas City moved its headquarters to Indianapolis in the last decade and now has made commitments to bring a huge number of visitors to Indianapolis each year into the future? If you think the answer is the NCAA, you would be half right. The complete answer is that there are two such organizations: the NCAA and FFA. Both the NCAA and FFA brought economic benefits along with their headquarters. Through…

Final 4 lodging scarce: 7 months before event, brokers lock up rooms

September 12, 2005

Basketball fans hoping to catch the action at next spring’s NCAA men’s Final Four in Indianapolis are more likely to score decent tickets than they are a downtown hotel room, though neither will come cheap. As the event has moved from fan-centric to corporate, the demand and price for hotel rooms has reached new highs. And the hotel room supply for Final Fours held locally is likely to tighten as NCAA officials push for larger Final Four venues-such as the…

Ambassadair likes suitor: Chicago-based Waveland Investments might have jobs for ATA execs if it lands travel club

September 19, 2005

Ambassadair Travel Club Inc. may chart a new destination with the help of a Chicago private equity firm whose holdings range from gas station chain Clark Brands to coffee-pot-maker West Bend. Waveland Investments LLC is the face behind Waveland Holdings LLC, an entity named in court records as signing a letter of intent to acquire Ambassadair from bankrupt parent ATA Holdings Corp. While Ambassadair said it remains profitable, despite ATA’s troubles, it has lost more than 20 percent of the…

Katrina could complicate sale of Emmis TV station: Undaunted, New Orleans WVUE begins to rebuild

September 19, 2005

WVUE-TV Channel 8 in New Orleans has no transmitter, no offices, little functional equipment and a skeleton staff. The station owned by Indianapolis-based Emmis Communications Corp. also has no paying advertisers and a depleted audience, thanks to Hurricane Katrina. The devastation wrought by one of the nation’s worst natural disasters puts plans to sell the station on hold as WVUE officials survey the millions of dollars in damage to their facilities and equipment and fight to get back on the…

Biz groups join forces: Agencies hope to reach more minority-, women-owned firms

September 26, 2005

Two organizations that aim to increase business opportunities for minorities and women have formed a united front, hoping to foster even greater diversity among companies. Indiana Business Diversity Council and the National Association of Women Business Owners’local chapter aren’t only sharing knowledge and resources-they’ll also share space when NAWBO moves in with IBDC later this fall. NAWBO hopes the partnership will enhance its networking capabilities. It also will give the all-volunteer organization it first-ever place to call home. For its…

‘1-of-a-kind’ Wal-Mart proposed: Michigan developer plans Carmel/Zionsville superstore

September 26, 2005

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…

Builders finding ways to go condo under $200K: There’s a ready market for entry-level housing downtown

October 3, 2005

Building bargain housing downtown isn’t easy. Ask Doug Jones, a principal in JLM Development, which is wrapping up its first downtown condominium project, a 26-unit community called Penn Square. Because they were working with multiple landowners, some out of state, it took Jones and his partners more than a year to acquire the single acre they needed for Penn Square, on the northwest corner of 22nd and Delaware streets. But once the developers cleared that hurdle, Penn Square went from…

NOTIONS: How big-ticket amenities deliver long-term ROI

October 3, 2005

Fourteen years ago this month, my new bride and I loaded our belongings onto a moving van in Bloomfield, Conn. We packed our cats, suitcases and a few heirlooms into our cars, and pulled away from our little apartment bound for a place called Indianapolis. As I followed Pam’s blue Accord through New York and New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio, I listened to cassette tapes, trying to drown out the mews from the back seat. With David Sanborn and Stan…

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People

Amy Isbell-Williams

Articles

SPORTS: A history lesson for 21st century stadium critics

City planners seek ways to replace PRI convention: Annual event was big money maker each December

Smaller-sized meetings bring in big bucks for city: Hospitality group sees value in events of all scales

University Place getting major makeover: New owner IUPUI investing $13M in renovation of 18-year-old hotel

NASCAR puts marketer in fast lane: Brown builds reputation for closing big sponsorship deals

Who’ll fill it?: Nordstrom a possibility for Ayres space

Hotel on tap for half of Riverpointe complex: Bloomington owner, Doras to team up on conversion

IMS mulls hotel: Convention-level facility connected to track would diversify Speedway’s revenue stream

CHRIS KATTERJOHN Commentary: Let’s emulate user-friendly Portland

VIEWPOINT: Customers in search of the ‘wow’ factor

City’s mall gamble paid off: After 10 years, Circle Centre at core of rejuvenated downtown

Computer Renditions: Technology firm building from plateau Computer Renditions on target to grow revenue in 2005

GERALD BEPKO Commentary: FFA is important to our future

Final 4 lodging scarce: 7 months before event, brokers lock up rooms

Ambassadair likes suitor: Chicago-based Waveland Investments might have jobs for ATA execs if it lands travel club

Katrina could complicate sale of Emmis TV station: Undaunted, New Orleans WVUE begins to rebuild

Biz groups join forces: Agencies hope to reach more minority-, women-owned firms

‘1-of-a-kind’ Wal-Mart proposed: Michigan developer plans Carmel/Zionsville superstore

Builders finding ways to go condo under $200K: There’s a ready market for entry-level housing downtown

NOTIONS: How big-ticket amenities deliver long-term ROI