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An Elkhart-based manufacturer of modular houses and commercial buildings has gone out of business, closing a plant in the northern Indiana city and another at Leola, Penn. Miller Building Systems Inc. tossed a total of about 200 employees out of jobs as a result of the decision, according to the South Bend Tribune. The company […]
Paul Shoopman could have sat on the sidelines savoring the fact that he sold his homebuilding firm in 2004, just months before the market began a calamitous slide. But that’s not Shoopman, who’d been building houses since 1971, the year he graduated from high school. His dad loaned him the money for his first lot, and co-signed for the construction loan. Shoopman built Dura Builders Inc. into Indianapolis’ fifth-largest homebuilder before selling it to Los Angeles-based KB Home. A little…
Looking east from the 27th floor of Chase Tower, lawyers at Bose McKinney & Evans LLP can clearly see their former offices at M&I Plaza. But the short distance didn’t make the firm’s traipse across Pennsylvania Street to its new home any easier. Just ask Vicki L. Bruce, the firm’s chief operations officer, who coordinated the cumbersome move that concluded Labor Day weekend. “You still have to load up a truck,” she said, “and it has to be staged properly.”…
Columbus philanthropist J. Irwin Miller’s family is poised to donate his majestic home to the Indianapolis Museum of Art,
provided it can raise millions of dollars to maintain the sprawling Bartholomew County property. IMA board members have given
CEO Maxwell Anderson the go-ahead to seek funding for an endowment to care for the home.
This isn’t a scene from a dystopic sci-fi novel, nor a recreation of a fascist act from a less tolerant time. It’s actually just one of many outlandish and exhilarating moments of Art vs. Art, an event gaining more attention with each annual incarnation. (This year’s is Sept. 26 at the Vogue). Art vs. Art is a painting competition and auction, where entering artists are each given identical canvases, art supplies, and four hours to complete a work. These entries…
During the Kenny C h e s n ey / Ke i t h Urban concert on Sept. 13, Lucas Oil Stadium passed its first test as a concert venue. Not acoustically-the sound ranged from barely acceptable to awful, depending on where you sat-but customer service-wise. Anticipating some problems, stadium management had set aside a number of seats for people who complained. When I went to the first-floor ticket window, they replaced my seats in Section 635-upper level, rear of…
Three of the Indiana Sports Corp.’s highest-profile board members are stepping down, but that doesn’t mean they won’t continue to be involved in the organization. ISC President Susan Williams is tapping them to mentor the organization’s next generation of leaders. On Sept. 24, at the ISC’s annual meeting at Tech High School, George McGinnis, Michael Browning and Jack Swarbrick will be named ISC life members. They are just the second group of ISC life members named, and the first in…
When it comes to the Phoenix Theatre, a first-class set usually indicates a first-class show. On its stages, I’ve witnessed everything from seemingly t h r ow n – t o g e t h e r raggedy to impeccably pro. But the strongest, most satisfying work I’ve seen there-including, now, “November” (running thorough Oct. 11)-has been presented dressed for success. Now, I’m not sure about the chicken-orthe-egg-ness of this. It could be that, when the powers that be have…
WellPoint Inc. touts as the company’s biggest strength its dominant market share in its health insurance markets. But now
the officers of the company are working to branch out beyond health insurance. They’re training their sales force
on how to better sell dental, vision and even life and disability insurance–which WellPoint refers to as its specialty group
of products.
A local real estate developer has emerged as a top contender to buy the 28-story M&I Plaza–potentially at half the
$50 million price the building fetched a decade ago. Paul Kite Co. confirmed it is in talks with Maryland-based
CapitalSource Inc., which took over the struggling office tower in June after foreclosing on a $5 million
mezzanine loan.
New buildings are energizing ventures. They magnify the impact of new programs, they enable new technologies, and they reflect the kind of places we want to live and work. Or, at least they should. After the fanfare, the speeches and the ribbon-cutting ceremonies, the real users move in. Then the questions start: “Who decided this?” and “Why is this here?” and “What is this for?” The excitement of moving into a new building can quickly turn into frustration. It doesn’t…
Mike’s Express Carwash makes money the old-fashioned way. The second-generation family affair, now celebrating its 60th
year, has invested its reserves in steady expansion, becoming a model for the $23.4 billion industry in
the process. And its owners still sweat the small stuff.
Moving coordinating company Relocation Strategies Inc. is used to dealing with companies in transition. Now the firm is undergoing one of its own-albeit of a different sort. Relocation Strategies founder David Bayse is relinquishing ownership to partner Melissa Lamb Brown in a purchase agreement set to be completed within the next four years. She already owns a majority of the business and will acquire the rest in stages. In the meantime, Bayse, 57, will continue to guide Brown, 39, who…
It seemed like a good, simple idea at the time to focus this column on how Indiana taxes compare with those of other states. But that turns out to be more of a job than you might think. For example, which year do we use? The most recent year available from the U.S. Bureau of the Census is 2005-06. But that year won’t work because 12 percent of Indiana’s revenue came from its state highways in 2005-06. Remember, we leased…
Last week’s column looked ahead to the limitless possibilities of Lucas Oil Stadium. This week’s topic is a last look back at the Hoosier/RCA Dome because, this Wednesday, the Dome will be deflated and it will pass forever from our skyline. But not from our memories. Imagine our city without it. There would be no Indianapolis Colts. There likely would be no forthcoming Super Bowl, no Final Fours and no NCAA headquarters. There likely would have been no Pan American…
Waiting for fallout of Wall Street rout More regulation in our future? At IBJ deadline, Wall Street was suffering through one of the most tumultuous weeks in its history, and there was no end in sight to the worry consuming investors. The $85 billion Federal Reserve bailout of American International Group Inc. on Sept. 16 did little to shore up markets that had plunged the day before, after Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy and Bank of America rescued Merrill Lynch. The…
Goodbye elevated guideway. Goodbye buses zooming down paved-over rail beds. For that matter, forget about commuter trains running down the median of Binford Boulevard and I-69. Or along Allisonville Road or Keystone Avenue. These northeast corridor rapid-transit options, cheered and jeered by residents in the debate over rapid transit, officially get thrown from the train on Sept. 26. That’s if a regional government group votes to accept the recommendation of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization for running diesel light rail…
The collapse of Lehman Brothers and the widespread stock sell-off it engendered is a bit scary. It shows those of us on Main Street that more than a year after the subprime mess became daily news, significant and sophisticated financiers still grapple with the effect on their firms. They are now far less significant and sophisticated than they once believed. I’m still uncertain as to how this will end. The U.S. and world economies will emerge stronger, more vibrant and…
In recent days, as some of Wall Street’s most storied institutions teetered, the mood at Indiana’s largest and oldest investment firm was almost serene. City Securities Corp. managers tracked news tickers and consulted CEO Mike Bosway, who was on vacation in Ireland, via his BlackBerry. But their biggest concern wasn’t the financial underpinnings of their own company. It was tumbling stock prices, which depressed the value of the portfolios of their 15,000 clients. Bosway saw no need to rush home…
Stock markets are falling, jobs are disappearing, and the outlook for the economy seems grim. Banks, real estate developers,
retailers and manufacturers are taking the worst hits, but all types of businesses in central Indiana are hurting. From health
care to technology, education to philanthropy, every industry is trying to take the setbacks in stride.
