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Holiday outlook bright for retail: Online sales, gift cards expected to bring cheer

Retailers are optimistic they won’t find a piece of coal in their stockings this winter. Veteran jeweler Greg Bires has labored in retail long enough to recognize when a robust holiday shopping season is starting to take shape. Fortunately for the owner of the downtown Windsor Jewelers, this should be another strong year, experts predict. “So far, things have been pretty positive,” Bires said. “It’s been a long time, but I’ve seen years when you knew things were going to…

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: China’s economic engine may be starting to sputter

It seemed like a reasonable forecast at the time. After an extraordinarily violent and deadly hurricane season in 2005, predictions of a second straight severe summer in 2006 made big headlines. But 2006 has turned out to be a year where not a single hurricane-rated storm has made U.S. landfall, one of only 21 years on record here that has been hurricane-free. It’s hardly the first time forecasters have eaten humble pie. And the experience serves to remind us that…

LEGAL: Embracing truth can make business decisions easy

Despite what we would like to believe, most people struggle to live in the truth. It’s hard and can be intensely painful. At times, the truth confronts us with issues we would rather ignore-the employee who isn’t working hard enough, for example, or the suppli er whose products have gone downhill. So to flee this harsh reality, we avoid the truth with other people. Tragically, we also avoid the truth with ourselves, at times to the point where we no…

Insurance adjuster building offices near 96th Street:

Indianapolis-based National Catastrophe Adjusters will move next spring to a new, more permanent home in Fishers. The company broke ground this month on the two-story, 13,000-square-foot office at the corner of Windermere Boulevard and Olympia Drive off of 96th Street. NCA hopes to move in by the end of April. Its office is now at the intersection of 75th Street and Shadeland Avenue. NCA decided to build because it wanted a permanent home, said Ken Averitt, chief operations officer. The…

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Daniel’s toll-road plan futuristic, not dated

Is building roads innovative? Some reactions voiced in the wake of the Gov. Mitch Daniels’ proposal to build a 75-mile beltway around the east and southern quadrants of central Indiana say no. Outer belts, it is said, are a mistaken product of 1960sera thinking, robbing growth from central cities and helping create the faceless suburban landscape that surrounds so many major cities today. Innovative thinking on transportation, one might say, would embrace new technology and get us away from the…

BioCrossroads aims to aid life sciences service sector: Group hopes to identify or raise at least $25 million

BioCrossroads, the life sciences initiative responsible for raising the $73 million Indiana Future Fund and the $6 million Indiana Seed Fund, is in early discussions on a new capital-formation effort. The focus this time around: biotech services businesses. “This is very much a work in progress,” said BioCrossroads CEO David Johnson. “But we believe and acknowledge this is an area that needs our attention and our active involvement.” Next year, Johnson hopes to focus at least $25 million to $30…

Critics question trustee’s property portfolio given mission to help needy

Center Township has real estate holdings worth more than $10 million, according to IBJ research. The township’s robust real estate portfolio—highly unusual for an Indiana township—fits Trustee Carl L. Drummer's vision for his taxpayer-supported office. But it makes others see red.

Bypass too tentative to affect land values, experts say: Property near toll-road exits may be coveted eventually, but uncertain route should keep speculators at bay for now

When Gov. Mitch Daniels unveiled his ambitious but vague plan for an outer loop around more than half of Indianapolis, some landowners in the potential path panicked while others dreamt of a windfall. But local experts say, until a route is more defined, neither worry nor anticipation is warranted. “There are so many outstanding issues,” said Abbe Hohmann, a land-price expert for the local office of St. Louisbased Colliers Turley Martin Tucker. Hohmann said two types of buyers usually drive…

NOTIONS: Drinking not from the cup of bitterness and hatred

In August, a group of ministers, whose common bond is their race, their faith, their concern for this city and their desire to help, wrote an open letter to our mayor. It was published in The Indianapolis Star. In their letter, the ministers decried the rise of violent crimes in our community. They commended the mayor for his “rapid response.” And they asked him to raise a lot of money to advance crime prevention through improved social programs. The letter…

VIEWPOINT: Does Indiana have a ‘vision thing’?

Nothing hurts a plan more than a lack of vision. The primary aim of the Indiana Economic Development Corp.’s plan-Accelerating Growth, Indiana’s Strategic Economic Development Plan-announced in April, is to boost personal income per capita to the national average by 2020. An effort to achieve an average standard in 14 years seems to be an unusually low aspiration. The historical record makes this target appear more challenging. Indiana has ranked 30th to 34th in the nation in percapita personal income…

BEHIND THE NEWS: Fashion Mall has the pull tolure most-prized anchors

Wo n d e r i n g who’ll fill the available anchor slot at The Fashion Mall at Keystone? Think pricey and plush. The north-side mall is among the 100 top-performing malls in the United States, according to the investment firm Friedman Billings Ramsey. It already has many of the nation’s top upscale retailers-from Saks Fifth Avenue and Crate & Barrel to Tiffany and Restoration Hardware. That says a lot. As Friedman Billings observes in a report, “The best…

Clarian to put prices on its Web site

Clarian Health Partners will start posting prices for care on its Web site early next year, a move aimed at advancing the national movement toward greater transparency in health care costs.

Philanthropic fund-raisers target over-funded IRAs: Federal law change allows tax-free charitable gifts from senior citizens’ accounts in 2006 and 2007 only

About 1,300 senior citizens recently received correspondence from the Indiana University School of Medicine. The letters detailed changes in federal law allowing them to make tax-free charitable gifts from their individual retirement accounts in 2006 and 2007 only. Thanks to IU’s October mail campaign to alumni, former faculty and staff, the School of Medicine already has attracted seven six-figure contributions. And it’s received inquiries from many more potential donors. Some want to establish scholarships for students. Others want to underwrite…

INVESTING: Initial public offerings have sizzle, but they also sting

Everyone loves easy money. Initial public offerings are often viewed as fast cash for those who get in early. The craziest IPO I can remember was theglobe.comin the late 1990s. The stock went up over 10 times the first day of trading. Even though it’s been a while since those kinds of pops grabbed headlines, Wall Street continues to crank out a steady stream of IPOs. Some are worth looking at and some are better to walk away from. Merrill…

Schools warm to economic development: Colleges crank out programs to fit latest initiatives

Academic purists often hold contempt for politicians and executives seeking help with economic development initiatives. It doesn’t take a political science degree to wonder if someone is trying to stoke votes, ambitions or profits-on the cheap. But in Indiana, more colleges are tailoring their curriculum to support economic development priorities, realizing what’s good for the region can be good for their enrollment. “An increasing number of universities don’t view themselves as ivory towers anymore,” said Uday Sukhatme, executive vice chancellor…

State Chamber offers December business seminars:

The Indiana Chamber of Commerce has two business seminars planned for December. The first addresses business law; the second human resources. The Chamber will hold “Indiana Legal Review,” an interactive seminar designed to address Hoosier businesses’ legal issues, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 1 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel downtown. Topics scheduled for discussion included a legislative preview, state taxation, venture capital and employment law. Registration costs $299 for Chamber members or $399 for nonmembers. On Dec….

Papa program: boon or boondoggle? EYE ON THE PIE Morton Marcus:

The sleet was furious, but there stood Fred Fetid, my neighbor, at my front door. “May I come in?” he said. “Certainly,” I responded. He took off his soaked coat. I turned on the faux fireplace in my living room, got him some bourbon and asked, “What’s up?” “I’m confused,” Fred said. “Just last week, Sen. Evan Bayh announced that nearly $1 million will come to the Indiana Youth Institute to encourage responsible fatherhood. It’s part of a $50 million…

BULLS & BEARS: Why investing in Kimball is paying huge dividends

Just more than a year ago in this column, I suggested Kimball International’s stock might be an attractive investment. At the time we felt that, here was a company in our own back yard-Jasper-that possessed the kind of favorable investment c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s investors should seek. The column noted that the company had “no long-term debt and holds $117 million, or $3 a share, in cash. The stock…

Butler mounts unusual campaign: Students, not buildings, major emphasis of effort

Butler University President Bobby Fong’s collection of baseball memorabilia sparks almost as much enthusiasm from him as the capital campaign the college publicly unveiled last month. The major difference of course is that the autographed bats and balls displayed in his office are far less valuable than the $125 million the college wants to raise by 2010. More than half the amount already has been procured from alumni and past donors during a silent phase that launched in late 2003….