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Deregulation creates telecom free-for-all:

Lawmakers last spring made it easier for AT&T, Verizon and big phone companies to get into the video business now ruled by cable TV operators. By summer, video providers were able to obtain a single, statewide video franchise instead of having to negotiate agreements with each municipality they serve. Opponents said reform was all about helping AT&T, the state’s largest phone provider and one of the most powerful lobbying and campaign contributors. AT&T didn’t want to have to negotiate individual…

Domestic automakers slash area jobs:

Turmoil in the domestic auto industry cast uncertainty over thousands of central Indiana jobs in 2006. Ford Motor Co.’s 2,000-worker east-side Indianapolis plant will close or be sold by the end of 2008, according to a plan the automaker unveiled in September. The plant, which makes steering components, is part of Ford’s Automotive Components Holdings LLC unit, which includes 23 troubled plants that used to be part of Visteon Corp., a Ford spin-off. Business at the International Truck & Engine…

New owner takes over at Marsh

Marsh Supermarkets Inc. saw big changes in 2006 as new owners and a new CEO took over, and the Fishers-based company announced store closures and layoffs. Boca Raton, Fla.-based Sun Capital Partners in October closed on its $88-million purchase of Marsh. The purchase included the assumption of about $200 million in debt. For the first time since the company’s founding in 1931, a Marsh isn’t calling the shots at Marsh Supermarkets. With the deal’s closing, Sun installed Frank Lazaran, the…

Alternative investing boom has spawned a fee frenzy BULLS & BEARS:

Readers of this column know I’ve been critical of the institutional-feeding frenzy that is pouring fiduciary money into alternative investments. My premise isn’t that institutions all will end up losing a lot of money by investing in private equity, hedge funds and venture capital. But I am suggesting that aggregate returns from alternative investing merely will be mediocre. Indeed, 2006 will mark the third year in a row that the average hedge fund has failed to keep pace with the…

Circle Truss proposed as gateway landmark

The Arch welcomes visitors to St. Louis. San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge ushers in the masses. And soon the Circle Gateway
Truss could greet travelers entering downtown Indianapolis.

Daniels’ major moves raise eyebrows:

Gov. Mitch Daniels created a firestorm in 2006 with his solution: Privatize the Indiana Toll Road. The 75-year lease of the 175-mile road in northern Indiana, to an Australian-Spanish consortium, closed June 29. The deal that gave the state a $3.8 billion check to finance other highway projects under Daniels’ Major Moves program not only lives on in controversy, but also could be the defining legacy of his administration. Daniels recently proposed privatizing the Indiana Lottery. And his team already…

Longtime executives unleash big donations:

Two Indianapolis business legends cemented their reputations for generosity in 2006 with charitable donations of $50 million and $15 million, respectively. The Indiana University School of Medicine announced in November that retail developer Melvin Simon and his wife, Bren, had committed $50 million to the school’s cancer center to recruit and retain researchers and to help with an expansion. Apartment developer Gene Glick and his wife, Marilyn, earlier in the fall announced a $15 million contribution to the Indianapolis Cultural…

CICP’s chief launches raft of initiatives:

In January, Mark Miles returned to Indianapolis after more than a decade at the helm of the Association of Tennis Professionals to become CEO of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership. Twelve months later, the CICP looks much different than it did under his predecessor David Goodrich. And it could soon change even more. A former Eli Lilly and Co. executive and aide to Dan Quayle, Miles, 53, has been one of the key players in the potential consolidation of the…

Business shoved aside: Readers say city should focus on crime, education in 2007

The brutal murders of seven family members, including three children shot dead in their east-side Indianapolis home, cast a dark cloud over the city last summer. Yet the June slayings only served as a harbinger of a wave of violence that later claimed 15 lives in a 10-day span. The crime spree rattled city leaders so severely that Mayor Bart Peterson declared an emergency normally reserved for a natural disaster. 2006 no doubt ranked among the most deadly years in…

NOTIONS: Skip the big resolution; play New Year’s “What if?”

The ball has dropped. The champagne corks have been swept from the floor. And the rose petals have been blown by the breeze down Pasadena Boulevard. And so we begin anew: Another year. Another 12 months. Another 52 weeks. Another 365 days. Another 525,600 minutes. Another chance to live and learn, work and play, grow and love. And blessed with so much time (and it is a blessing), what will you make of yourself, and those dearest to you and…

Storms crisis for some, boon for others:

When two separate storms boasting 80-mile-per-hour winds and massive hail hit the Indianapolis area in April, it was just the beginning of headaches for some. For others, it was the beginning of a lot of green. A storm on April 2 produced straightline winds that knocked out windows and tore away portions of the façade at downtown’s One Indiana Square office tower. The city was forced to close Pennsylvania Street for days to keep cars and pedestrians away from the…

Buyout frenzy hits Indiana firms:

The year closed with two multibilliondollar buyouts of Indiana public companies-Carmel-based Adesa Inc. and Warsaw-based Biomet Inc. It was a fitting way to wrap up what was a record year for U.S. buyouts, many of them launched by deep-pocketed private equity firms. Adesa, an operator of auto auctions, announced Dec. 22 that it will be sold to a group of private-equity investors, including New York-based Goldman Sachs Group Inc., for $3.7 billion. Four days earlier, Biomet, a maker of orthopedic…

EYE ON THE PIE: News flash? Indiana continues to lag nation

The U.S. Department of Commerce put two data sets under my tree the week before Christma. On Wednesday, I got personal-income data, by state, for the third quarter of 2006 from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. On Friday, the Bureau of the Census sent me 2006 population estimates for all the states. Could I ask for anything better unless it was the “Complete Works of Alvin and the Chipmunks”? However, my joy may not be shared by those who have…

City picks Marriott, passes on Pan Am plan:

A willingness to redesign and add rooms to its proposed JW Marriott hotel helped push locally based REI Real Estate Services and its partner over the top in their quest to build a convention headquarters hotel. The team of REI and Merrillville-based White Lodging Services Corp. proposed building an 800-room JW Marriott as the centerpiece of a 1,500-room, five-hotel complex at the site of the existing Courtyard by Marriott hotel at West and Washington streets. A city committee charged with…

CEO Smulyan captains Emmis through another turbulent year:

It was a frustrating year for Smulyan, 59, who watched the company’s stock price tumble, driven down by an advertising slump. In an interview last spring, he lamented, “Nothing we do seems to make anybody happy these days.” To focus on radio, the company unloaded 14 of its 16 TV stations for nearly $1 billion, shrinking its debt. But analysts widely panned Smulyan’s decision to apply some of Emmis’ new financial firepower toward his ultimately failed bid to buy the…

Winona Hospital litigation fizzles

A court-appointed trustee in charge of Winona Memorial Hospital’s bankruptcy says he believes former owners fleeced it for
more than $4 million. But he has little to show from his two-year quest to recover money for creditors and now is winding
down the case.

New stadium rising; city preparing for Super Bowl bid:

The concrete columns of the Indianapolis Colts’ new $675 million stadium began rising out of the ground in early 2006. Soon thereafter, the new venue had a name. In March, California-based Lucas Oil Products agreed to a 20-year, $121.5 million naming rights deal. Meanwhile, city and team officials in 2006 began discussions they hope will lead to attracting the Super Bowl to Lucas Oil Stadium in 2011. The Lucas Oil pact is one of a flurry of sponsorship deals the…

For Cornelius ’06 was full of challenges:

Long-time Indianapolis business leader Jim Cornelius jumped from one daunting challenge to another in 2006. He started the year as chairman and CEO of Guidant Corp., as it weighed a possible sale to either New Jer sey-based Johnson & Johnson or Massachusetts-based Boston Scientific Corp. After Boston Scientific won, Cornelius became acting CEO of New York-based Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. in September. Cornelius stayed with Guidant from start to finish. He left his position as chief financial officer at Eli Lilly…

TOM HARTON Commentary: Tying up some local loose ends

Maybe you’ve already heard. Mickey Maurer’s column will return to this space in a few weeks. After two years serving as Gov. Mitch Daniels’ go-to economic development guy, Mickey should have plenty of stories to tell. And Associate Editor Tawn Parent and I, as his trusty substitute columnists, should have a bit more time to devote to our behind-the-scenes work at IBJ. I’m closing out my brief columnwriting career by addressing a handful of topics-some of them new, some of…

Boston Scientific swallows Guidant:

Massachusetts-based Boston Scientific Corp. finally sealed its purchase of Indianapolis medical device maker Guidant Corp. in April. But it was still paying a price for the $27-billion deal as 2006 wound to a close. Boston Scientific shares have tumbled since the deal closed, partly because of concern that its signature product, drugcoated stents that prop open obstructed heart vessels, can sometimes cause fatal blood clots. But many of the company’s difficulties relate to product-liability problems at Guidant, one of the…