Billionaire philanthropists Mel and Bren Simon are laying the groundwork to donate Asherwood–their extravagant Carmel estate
and golf course–to the Indiana University Foundation, potentially to house a new think tank. The couple plans to downsize
into a home just outside the town square in the nearby Village of WestClay.
A former Silicon Valley sales executive and a Cincinnati investment manager have formed a venture fund here that’s trying
to raise $100 million to invest in the new darlings of the investment world: clean technology firms. Clean Wave Ventures founders
Scott Prince and Rick Kieser are banking on soaring energy costs attracting investors to the risky but potentially lucrative
realm of alternative energy and transportation and related fields.
There are many things I do not understand. I don’t understand why a golf gallery must remain “pin-drop” silent while a person hits a ball that sits stationary on a tee, yet fans can scream at the top of their lungs while a batter tries to hit a ball coming toward him at 95 miles per hour. I also don’t understand how economists take massive amounts of conflicting economic data, input the statistics into a model, and, presto, out comes…
The roof has closed for the first time on Lucas Oil Stadium, and we now have a timetable for the demolition of its predecessor, the RCA Dome. Its last general event, the Fire Department Instructors Conference, has come and gone, as has its last sporting event, Supercross. Bit by bit, its innards are being dismantled. The pace will quicken throughout the summer. In August, the Teflon dome will disappear from the city skyline and shortly thereafter, the walls and the…
Escalating demand for corporate entertainment space during Indianapolis Colts home games has team owner Jim Irsay wondering whether Lucas Oil Stadium should have been built with more luxury suites. “Quite frankly, I wish we built 30 or 40 more suites,” Irsay told IBJ during a recent interview. There’s good reason to think the Colts have outgrown the stadium-even though it’s still four months from completion. The Colts long ago sold all 142 suites for the venue, and have a waiting…
Far from the typical rubber-chicken fund-raiser attended mostly by board members and their friends–Zoobilation, the 22-year-old,
annual black-tie fund-raiser for the Indianapolis Zoo–attracts 4,300 ticket holders eager to spend an evening wining and
dining at the zoo.
The abrupt slowdown in merger-and-acquisition activity shouldn’t be confused with a poor economy, say some Indiana professionals who specialize in the work. Aside from a few hard-hit industries such as housing and retail, most sectors of the economy are fairly healthy, the observers say. And many think the low point of the economic downturn might […]
While a lot of National Football League presidents and general managers are looking closely at college prospects’ football pedigree, Indianapolis Colts President Bill Polian takes his background check a step further. Sure, Polian wants to know…
The 64 partners of Sommer Barnard PC unanimously voted today to approve the firm’s merger with Cincinnati-based Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP. The vote means Taft Stettinius & Hollister will absorb Sommer Barnard on May 1, meaning Indianapolis will lose one of its largest law firms. Sommer Barnard was founded in 1969 and has 103 […]
Indianapolis will lose one of its largest law firms May 1 when the Cincinnati-based Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP absorbs Sommer Barnard PC. Neither firm would confirm or deny the deal, but several sources in the local legal community say the deal will be announced today. When reached by phone, Taft Stettinius Managing Partner Thomas […]
The signs of the 25-year-old RCA Dome are coming down next week. The building which helped lure the Indianapolis Colts here from Baltimore will follow.
The Indiana Stadium and Convention Building Authority this afternoon announced detailed plans for demolishing the RCA Dome…
Details of a crucial aspect of the Lucas Oil Stadium-Convention Center project could be revealed today as city and stadium construction officials meet to discuss the project.
The construction timeline on the $10 million connector…
About 20,000 historic properties were damaged in the storm, and Gay, executive director of Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans, has led the charge to save them. “We never felt like throwing up our hands,” Gay said. “We don’t do that.” The Preservation Resource Center contacted owners of the nearly 4,000 historic properties that were condemned after the hurricane. About 600 of them have been spared to date. The PRC also has been helping review the planned demolition of buildings…
Almost everyone involved with the Indy Racing League expected a firestorm of publicity after Danica Patrick won her first open-wheel race. But few predicted just how hot a commodity the 26-year-old driving diva would become following her April 19 win in Japan. “It’s not like we got caught unprepared. We had a plan in place for over a year,” said Terry Angstadt, president of IRL’s commercial division. The victory blueprint included a list of contacts to be made, interviews to…
It takes courage, but sometimes the best time to invest in a stock is when almost no one else is. That strategy paid off royally with Finish Line Inc., whose shares are up 180 percent this year. Now, is the time right to dive into The Steak n Shake Co.? To be sure, naysayers can find plenty of reasons to steer clear of Steak n Shake, which helps explain why shortsellers-investors who make their money when shares fall-have flocked to…
Indiana’s business community is divided in its support during this presidential election. Many Republicans are disenchanted,
which has contributed to slow contributions to their candidate, Arizona Sen. John McCain. But those looking to support Democrats
are torn this year, as the fierce competition between Clinton and Obama has made Indiana’s normally sleepy May primary a battleground.
Prices of an alternative fuel that’s had patriotic and environmental appeal–but not an economic one for motorists–have been
flirting this month with gasoline on an energy-equivalent cost basis. The sudden but often fleeting price appeal of fuel “E85,”
a blend of ethanol with a dash of gasoline, is due largely to gas prices soaring to nearly $4 a gallon.
Authorities are considering pursuing criminal charges against Christopher P. White and other executives at Premier Properties USA Inc. in connection with deepening troubles at the local development firm, sources familiar with the matter said. Possible charges include check fraud and criminal mischief stemming from a $500,000 bad check White deposited into an account with The National Bank of Indianapolis in January. Accusations also are flying over whether White and Premier paid payroll taxes and properly credited employee 401(k) and health…
Like most of the rest of the sporting world and to some extent beyond, I had awakened on that Sunday morning to the delightful news that, overnight in faraway Japan, Patrick had broken through to secure her first Indy Racing League victory in 50 tries. She now is something more than a pretty face and, to some, a sexual object who also just happened to drive race cars. She is a champion. Now this isn’t, as one gearhead suggested, along…
Liberty Mutual Group said Wednesday it has agreed to acquire publicly traded Safeco Corp. and take it private in an all-cash, $6.2 billion deal to create the nation’s fifth-largest property and casualty insurer. Boston-based Liberty Mutual and Seattle-based Safeco said the boards of both companies approved the deal, which is subject to approval by Safeco […]
