Search Results

RETAIL Noblesville adds Muzak Shopping in downtown Noblesville will now sound more like shopping at a mall. If it’s true that people spend 30 percent more while shopping to music, the city’s recent purchase of a Muzak system could be a good thing for the merchants. The system comes with access to a 7-million-song library, […]

Avon/Brownsburg area Race car teams could live, work in same place Residents in fast-growing western suburbs such as Brownsburg and Avon also have expressed interest in a commuter rail line, with a number of abandoned rail corridors running all the way to downtown. Ball State student Amber Agan, who is a race car driver, wants […]

East 30th Street and MacPherson Avenue Development in a square is long on efficiency, culture Imagine a square, three- to four-story building with an immense courtyard in the middle-sort of like a fort. It’s slashed diagonally with an active rail line paralleling the Monon recreational trail. Roofs of the apartment square would have vast amounts […]

Simons are an asset to the community I found offensive the [April 20] article, “Simon says, city does.” The article goes on to question if the city got a raw deal from the Simon family, given all the tax breaks and other incentives extended to them, over the years, for the many projects that they […]

Indiana advancing in alternative energy The convergence of technology, coupled with advances in renewable and bioenergy, is creating a profound impact on the national and global energy agenda. One can easily identify over 100 prominent national organizations that are working diligently on these efforts; the list ranges from research at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, […]

CORRECTION Ken Skarbeck’s Investing column on page 22 last week incorrectly linked the Indiana Bond Bank with bonds issued on behalf of the city’s water utility in 2005. The Indiana Bond Bank had no involvement in the transaction.

Lucas Oil Stadium area Integrating bus, rail at downtown station This concept by Wes Perkins would bring perhaps the most ambitious and transformative change to downtown since Circle Centre mall. Here the rail line ends at a transportation hub that also ties in bus routes, Amtrak trains and even a monorail system that could run […]

TRANSPORTATION Firms still pay to relocate staff Many companies still are willing to offer employees relocation incentives, even though a deepening recession is forcing them to cut costs and scale back on other benefits. That’s the findings of Evansville-based Atlas Van Lines’ just-released 2009 Corporate Relocation Survey. Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of the firms surveyed […]

Design of expansion features lots of glass Aim is to give new convention center welcoming feel The plan for the expansion of the Indiana Convention Center is a practical one that designers needed to spiff up a bit. So, Ratio Architects Inc. concentrated on making visitors feel comfortable by accentuating a lot of glass at […]

SPORTS MainGate feasts on Lions Locally based MainGate Inc. is getting a big boost from its new contract with the Detroit Lions. MainGate signed a 10-year deal in February to manage the Lions’ retail shop at Ford Field and the team’s retail Web site. On April 20, the Lions introduced an updated team logo and […]

LOAN APPROVALS SBA Loans SBA loan guarantees for the month of March. These businesses have received loans from financial institutions with a guarantee from the SBA. Not all funds are disbursed immediately. Furthermore, some approved loans are subsequently canceled. Arts A Poppin LLC, 653 Massachusetts Ave., Indianapolis, $30,000 from Borrego Springs Bank N.A. Banc-Serv Partners […]

Restraint should be mantra State must not undo fiscal progress Trying to rein in spending when so many Hoosiers are hurting has put some hard choices before the General Assembly this year. But Indiana needs lawmakers to hang tough as they head toward the session’s finale April 29. At the top of their list of […]

Indianapolis International Airport area Center offers accommodations for air travelers facing layovers Eventually, additional rail transit corridors would be built, radiating in other directions from downtown. One concept, by Jessica Coleman, plays off the idea that a transit line might someday run between downtown and Indianapolis International Airport. She proposes a transit stop community northeast […]

REAL ESTATE Fort Ben prepares to launch $9M in infrastructure upgrades The Fort Harrison Reuse Authority is preparing to break ground on a massive infrastructure project that will lay the groundwork for the master-planned Lawrence Village at the Fort, the final phase of a decade-long redevelopment of Fort Benjamin Harrison. The $9 million project calls […]

MANUFACTURING Indy chemical firm acquired Specialty chemical maker Galaxy Associates of Cincinnati has acquired Challenge Inc. of Indianapolis for an undisclosed sum. Challenge is Galaxy’s fifth acquisition since 2003. The company bought another Indianapolis firm, Rieskamp Equipment Co., in March 2008. Chemist David Crosley founded Challenge in 1972 to serve the metal-finishing industry with environmentally […]

Investing column contained errors The purpose of this letter is to point out a serious error in the [April 20] Investing column, “Complex bond schemes haunt Indy, other cities.” The article erroneously states that the Indiana Bond Bank issued bonds on behalf of Indianapolis Water Co. in 2005. Please note that the 2005 Indianapolis Water […]

56th Street and Keystone Avenue Balancing new development and existing neighborhoods This 1-square-mile stop along the Nickel Plate would revitalize a “vast sea of asphalt littered with warehouse buildings, factories, box stores and storage unit buildings.” Yet this new community proposed by Matt VanSoest seeks to live in harmony with existing residential neighborhoods, including cottages […]

Fast-growing tanning chain hot on Indianapolis market Kentucky-based company aims for 25 salons in area At a time of retrenchment for most retailers, Elizabethtown, Ky.-based Sun Tan City is enjoying a growth spurt that has brought it to the Indianapolis market in a big way. Since November 2008, it has opened eight salons in central […]