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STATEHOUSE DISPATCH: Nitty-gritty details yet to be resolved in tax-reform plan

We’ve come a long way since the beginning of this legislative session, and lawmakers are edging closer to assembling a property tax reform acceptable to both chambers, both major parties and the governor. Lawmakers faced competing pressures from constituents, the governor, business interests, schools and local governments, and citizen groups as they tackled the issue, but they resolved to labor with a minimum of partisanship. Of course, they frequently make the same pledge when dealing with major issues, but an…

Airport may pay $8.8 million for hotel: Deal pending; Westin won’t open until at least 2009

The Indianapolis Airport Authority board this month approved spending up to $8.8 million to help fund construction of a hotel connected to the midfield terminal set to debut Oct. 28. But delays in finalizing a deal with developer Mansur Real Estate Services means the $50-million-plus Westin will not be ready for guests until August 2009 at the earliest. The airport board picked Indianapolis-based Mansur to build the hotel nearly a year ago. “We’re still talking about what it’s going to…

SPORTS: IU’s basketball drama isn’t the only show in town

So much news, so little space. Over the last two weeks, there was that evolving situation involving the IU basketball coach. The Hoosiers, Butler, Purdue and Notre Dame made Indiana the only state with four teams ranked in the nation’s top 25. Butler climbed to No. 8, its highest ranking ever, and Purdue took the Big Ten lead under Matt Painter, at this point the odds-on choice for national coach of the year. My buddy and former colleague, Robin Miller,…

Indy to host Urban Forum: Group that helps revitalize properties to showcase city’s projects

Visitors in Indianapolis for the Urban Forum in April might patronize Jockamo Upper Crust Pizza in Irvington not only to sample the food but also the success of a neighborhood business district revitalization program. The pizzeria benefited from an effort called Fostering Commercial Urban Strategies, or FOCUS, through a $16,000 facade grant from the Indianapolis chapter of the Local Initiatives Support Corp. Indianapolis is one of 30 cities boasting LISC chapters. Nationally, they invested more than $1 billion in low-income…

Sampson scandal may repel IU donors

Based on 50 conversations IU Foundation President Curt Simic had with donors the week after news broke of the potential firing
of men’s basketball coach Kelvin Sampson over alleged NCAA improprieties, the chief of Indiana University’s philanthropic
arm says he has little fear the latest athletic department controversy will affect financial support to the school.

New Black Expo leader focusing on finances: Bell will draw on skills as attorney, community volunteer

Less than a month after starting a job she didn’t know she wanted, Indiana Black Expo CEO Tanya Bell has big plans for the nation’s oldest and largest group of its kind. Bell wants to diversify the statewide organization’s revenue stream and expand its already-impressive roster of more than 100 corporate sponsors. Doing that will mean raising awareness of the year-round programs that have been overshadowed by IBE’s two signature events: its annual Summer Celebration and Circle City Classic football…

Former Thomson exec attempts to revive Proscan TVs: U.S. subsidiary sells South Korean flatscreens

In the mid 1990s, Carmel’s then-giant Thomson Consumer Electronics annually sold $300 million worth of high-end televisions under the name Proscan. But by the end of the decade, the company’s French owners had abandoned Proscan in favor of a strategy emphasizing the betterknown RCA brand. Now a former Thomson executive based in Indianapolis is attempting to revive Proscan. Last year, Pat Deighan sold nearly $50 million worth of Proscan high-definition flatscreen LCD televisions in the United States. This year, he…

Office tower bounces back: Renovated National City Center recovering from loss of Simon

Once reeling from the loss of its largest tenant, National City Center now has a rising occupancy rate amid a major renovation that is resuscitating the aging office building. Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group Inc. vacated 182,000 square feet in National City Center by moving to its new headquarters a block away in the fall of 2006. The departure left the 16-story tower at the southwest corner of Washington and Illinois streets 28-percent unoccupied after years of being nearly full. Owner…

VIEWPOINT: Could design transform your company?

At first glance, it seems like an odd scenario: a group of Indianapolis architects attending an auto show in Detroit so they can hear an Ohio guy talk about golf clubs. As convoluted as that seems, though, the trip makes perfect sense when you understand its purpose. We went to hear people talk about design and how it can define a product, brand or company. The event we attended was the AutoWeek Design Forum, presented as a part of the…

SEC pushes Lilly, WellPoint for more info on executive pay: Two Indianapolis companies are among 350 queried

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission wants to know more about how Eli Lilly and Co. and WellPoint Inc. decide how to pay their top executives. The two Indianapolis companies exchanged letters last fall with the SEC. The federal agency requested more information about executive compensation from 350 of the nation’s largest public companies. The correspondence led Lilly to include more detailed information in a preliminary version of its proxy statement that it filed Feb. 6. WellPoint officials have promised…

NOTIONS: Emerging from Eden, wanting to head straight back

Last week, my wife Cherí and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary with a trip to Turks and Caicos. We walked for miles along the white sand beaches of Grace Bay, snuggled in a hammock at sunset, slathered on sunblock and, between us, polished off 10 books at poolside. By midweek, we’d finally chilled from the tension of the daily grind. Unfortunately, about that time, the anticipatory anxiety of returning home set in. “I don’t wanna go back,” was our…

Against odds, AlGalCo pursues ‘Holy Grail’ of power cells

A small West Lafayette technology startup has quietly unveiled a product that might, just might, change the world. At the
TechAdvantage Conference and Expo in Anaheim, Calif., on Feb. 20, Kurt Koehler, CEO, co-founder (and, for the moment, sole
employee) of AlGalCo LLC, showed off a pre-production hydrogen-powered emergency generator.

Mann, Opus team up to develop Ingalls industrial park:

Locally based Mann Properties is stepping outside its comfort zone of small office/flex projects to develop a 140-acre industrial park and logistics center along Interstate 69 in Madison County. Mann is teaming with Illinois-based Opus North Corp. to put together plans for 1.5 million square feet of industrial and office space near the town of Ingalls. The two developers are optimistic that ground can be broken yet this year on the $100 million project called I-69 Trade Center. A potential…

Housing slump puts Gramercy project in Carmel on hold:

The deteriorating housing market and Carmel’s plans to build more roundabouts have led The Buckingham Cos. to put the brakes on its ambitious Gramercy development project. The $500 million project set to begin in the spring now has no timetable. But when construction ultimately commences, it likely will begin with the commercial and retail portions rather than the home-building portion, as was originally planned, said Clyde Lee, a spokesman for the local developer. “They have revised the plans,” Lee said….

Streetcars work in Portland, but viability here uncertain

If the introduction of modern streetcars to one West Coast city can be replicated here, Indianapolis would see new, higher-density
housing and related retail and restaurants shadowing the line. Fallow areas crossed by the tracks would become fertile for
new investment. At least that was the case in Portland, Ore., a city mesmerizing to Indianapolis civic leaders, who last month
formed Downtown Indianapolis Streetcar Corp. They risk being run out of town on a rail: a streetcar line will cost…

Members looking to make rain: Growing networking firm aims to be national player

A central Indiana business networking company that’s on a growth tear. Rainmakers Marketing Group Inc. more than doubled its membership to 1,100 in 2007 alone, and has added another 200 members already this year. Revenue is expected to surpass $600,000 in 2008. “The business model is simple,” said cofounder Tony Scelzo, 35. “We teach business people about growing a business.” R a i n m a ke r s ‘ events offer more than talking heads and forced interaction. The…

INVESTING: New Wall St. ‘product’ far from a sure thing

Financial securities often are called intangibles, since they lack physical attributes and thus are not easily described. That is why investment firms like to package investments into what they call “products.” Products lend themselves to more concise descriptions of what the investor is buying, and therefore a product is easier to sell. Mutual funds are probably the best example of an investment product. Now, products have entered the realm of hedge funds in the form of 130/30 funds. The numbers…

VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Green solutions can mean savings for building owners

Is going green incompatible with the bottom line? Not necessarily. In fact, since the signing of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, your business can accelerate significant tax deductions by going green. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 established a tax deduction for commercial build ings that reduce annual energy and power consumption. The deduction is available to a taxpayer for part or all of the cost of energy-efficient property that is installed in new or existing commercial buildings. The…