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Oak Street tables plans: Fast-growing mortgage firm postpones IPO

Oak Street Financial Services Inc., the fast-growing Carmelbased mortgage seller, has called off its initial public offering. “We still feel we’re in a growth phase,” said Oak Street spokesman Joe Poulos. “But some things have been scaled back, such as the IPO.” Oak Street filed initial IPO paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission last April, outlining plans to raise up to $150 million from investors. But SEC documents show Oak Street withdrew its registration request Feb. 1 One of…

Basketball-filled month awaits downtown planners: Indianapolis set to host 35 big games in 36 days

Next month will bring new meaning to “March Madness” in Indianapolis. In a 36-day span starting March 1 and culminating April 5 with the crowning of the women’s NCAA basketball champion, the city will play host to 35 high-profile games in 36 days. The Hoosier state’s love affair with the sport has endured for decades. But next month will truly be “Hoops Hysteria” here. While the city has welcomed basketball tournaments before, it never has offered so many games at…

STATEHOUSE DISPATCH: Tax talk begins to make Republican lawmakers hinky

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of this session’s first five weeks has been all the talk about imposing or raising taxes. A surfeit of Republicans ran for assorted offices last year complaining about the condition of the state budget, but pledged to bring it back into balance by attacking fraud and waste, and simply cutting more programs. Many Democrats who ran against them acknowledged budget “issues,” but suggested they could be managed and the budget would not be balanced on…

Banking turnaround specialist returns home: First National names former People’s exec as CEO

One of the nation’s most successful bankers has returned to Indiana. After four years spent spearheading the turnaround of deeply troubled City National Bank in Charleston, W.Va., Jerry Francis took the helm at Kokomobased First National Bank & Trust Feb. 9. Francis is best known locally from his days as president of People’s Bank Corp. He left Indianapolis in 2001 after Fifth Third Bancorp bought People’s for $228 million. But his name is recognized across the nation thanks to the…

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: New metropolitan areas redefine economic data

This month marks the first important use of the recently redefined Metropolitan Statistical Areas for Indiana. When we receive our first glimpse of state employment information for the new year, the Department of Workforce Development will include three new MSAs in its tables: Anderson, Columbus and Michigan City. And most of the existing metro areas, including Indianapolis, will see significant changes in their geographic composition. In general terms, these changes are easy to explain. We are a mobile population and,…

SPORTS: How do I love sports? Let me list the ways

Lance Armstrong beating cancer, the Tour de France field and the French press. The Red Sox, down 0-3, over the Yankees. Never say never. “And down the stretch they come!” at the Kentucky Derby. “Gentlemen, start your engines,” at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The alpenglow on the San Gabriels above the Rose Bowl late in the third quarter. A three-pointer to win at the buzzer … unless it’s against the Pacers. Hinkle Fieldhouse, anytime. Amen Corner on an April Sunday…

Mission: possible: Financial crisis averted, but work remains

Humane Society of Indianapolis saved itself in 2004. Poised on the brink of financial disaster, agency leaders came up with a deceptively simple recovery plan: Spend less, raise more and borrow some to make up the difference. So far, so good. Expenses last year came in about a half-percent under budget, fund-raising revenue was up 37 percent, and the shelter didn’t use as much credit as expected. Then there was the real victory-nearly 53 percent of the 8,985 animals that…

Celluloid tax credits?: Incentives for movie makers getting bipartisan support

House Bill 1639 would put in place a hefty set of tax incentives for companies making movies, television shows, music videos, commercials and corporate videos on Hoosier soil. Though the bill has bipartisan support in the House, a similar measure was spiked last year because of concerns over lost tax revenue. Even the bill’s author thinks there could be a fight over the measure in the Senate. Those who think the idea of drawing movie producers to Indiana is far-fetched…

Shining the spotlight on state’s hospital care: Governor asks state Department of Health for a statewide sytem to report medical errors and quality

“You know more about the pizza you buy than the doctor you use,” the Clarian Health Partners CEO said recently. Evans likes talking pizza when he gives speeches about health care quality. He takes his comparison a step further when he explains how hospitals benefit by adding transparency. “If your business is transparent, that is your customer knows you use fresh pepperoni on your pizza and the guy across the street uses frozen pepperoni, the customer’s going to come to…

NOTIONS: Must we all inhale the toxic air of hypocrisy?

Here’s what I want you to do: Take your left index finger and place it on your chin. Now, slide it along your jaw up to your left ear. Now slide it straight down your neck. When you’ve reached the base, slide your finger outward, halfway to your shoulder. Now, imagine that instead of a fingertip, you employ a head-and-neck surgeon with a scalpel. And imagine that after slicing your jaw and neck, he pulls down the resulting flap of…

EYE ON THE PIE Morton Marcus: Time for a tax strategy to boost retail

It is time to recognize the role of retail trade in economic development. Too often, we follow the notion that a community grows only because it exports. That which we mine, grow, harvest or manufacture is an acknowledged part of the economic base. It brings in dollars from outside. In some communities, we recognize tourism, medical and other specialized services as part of that export base. Just a few places see retail trade as a means of economic development. Yes,…

Carmel’s Sunrise Café may be nearing sunset: Developer would raze café to make way for retail, office

A longtime favorite spot to conduct business over breakfast on the far-north side will close if plans to sell the building that houses Sunrise Café come to fruition. Locally based Meridian Asset Development has the café building and a surrounding 2-1/2-acre lot at 11450 N. Meridian St. under contract. The seller is an Omaha, Neb.-based trust that owns it and a nearby office building. If the sale closes as expected in the coming weeks, Meridian Asset plans to raze the…

INVESTING: Market opportunities narrow, but still exist for investors

One pleasant thing about the stock market is that dominant trends do not change quickly. A strong, healthy bull market does not turn into a nasty, hungry bear overnight. There is a process and an evolution that a full market cycle goes through, and the transition phases of these cycles typically last three to nine months. Investors who become aware that they are in the early to middle stage of one of these transition periods will have ample time to…

Eco suit spawns flurry of litigation: Class actions hit Honeywell in wake of thermostat fight

Industrial powerhouse Honeywell International Inc. suddenly finds itself under siege by an army of aggressive class-action attorneys-all because it decided to mess with a couple of determined entrepreneurs from Lebanon. Attorneys from around the nation in recent months have filed six class action lawsuits in state courts charging New Jersey-based Honeywell used deception to obtain the trademark for its ubiquitous round thermostat, then used its lock on the round-thermostat market to overcharge customers. T h e l eg a l…

Giving women a boost: Companies use in-house programs to maximize the potential of female employees Crowe Chizek and Co. LLC Rolls-Royce North America

While men and women are often hired in equal numbers, inequities tend to crop up once employees reach management level and above. For innovative companies, the race is on to move more women into the management pipeline. “I think it is a trend in companies that have been smart enough to take a look at their promotion patterns over the last five to six years,” said Nancy Ahlrichs Raichart, author and founder of Indianapolis-based EOC Strategies, a human resources consulting…

INDOT spends millions with little oversight: Critics charge state’s failure leads to poor work

More than half of the $8 billion spent by the Indiana Department of Transportation on construction over the last decade went to only 10 construction companies. The same is true of the hundreds of millions spent on consulting. Ten design and engineering firms got 56 percent of all of the money contracted by INDOT-more than $155 million over the last 12 years. The large sums of money concentrated in a relatively small number of recipients has raised alarms for some…

TAWN PARENT Commentary: Playing a game I may not want to win

I’m playing the lottery. But even if I win, I might lose. The stakes are high. It’s a lottery that will have a major impact on my family for the next decade. But this lottery isn’t about money. It’s about education. It’s the Indianapolis Public Schools magnet school lottery. Families submit their choices in the fall, and by the first of March they find out if they have won the right to attend any of their favorite schools. But there’s…

BEHIND THE NEWS: Lawyers in big-biz cases get scolding from judges Taking stock of Lilly

Two big businessrelated cases are advancing toward trial, and the lawyers involved are getting nasty. At least that’s how it seems to the judges handling the cases, and they’re tired of it. In a Jan. 31 filing, federal Magistrate Judge V. Sue Shields gave a verbal spanking to attorneys for both Paul Harris Stores Inc. and the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. “All counsel are admonished that the court expects them to behave in a civil manner toward one another and to…

City convention planners working on transition strategy: Keeping event clients content during expected stadium construction, expansion of center crucial to success Smooth transition critical Contingency plans

The city’s hospitality industry might want to adopt the weathered “no pain, no gain” expression as its mantra until the proposed expansion of the Indiana Convention Center is completed, presumably in 2010. Construction of the 275,000-square-foot addition to the center should begin in 2008, pending legislative approval of a $500 million stadium financing deal for the Colts. The Convention Center expansion is expected to cost $250 million, and its financing and location hinge on the stadium deal. Work on the…

Head of IT firm ensures company primed for growth: She started business to offer customized training but altered her strategy as circumstances changed Strategic decisions “She almost vibrates” Female support

Kathy Carrier’s dad was angry when she left a lucrative job at a Fortune 500 company to start her own firm. But four years later, when she won an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, he told his daughter: “Clearly your vision for yourself was greater than the one I had for you.” In less than seven years, Carrier, 46, has built her Fort Wayne-based information technology writing and training firm, Briljent LLC, into a business with annual…