The federal government has canceled a contract with a Missouri developer chosen to build a new FBI field office in Castleton. The U.S. General Services Administration awarded the $38-million contract to Kansas City-based BC Development Co. on March 23, but the company failed to obtain control of the 12-acre property in time to meet a […]
Kansas-based LodgeWorks LP continues to refine its proposal for a hotel project that would include a bridge over the Central Canal. The proposal, designed by Chicago-based ASC Architects, calls for:
A four-story bridge…
Indianapolis-based Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity has been sued by the family of a University of Mississippi student who died in a 2004 fire at its Ole Miss fraternity house. The lawsuit alleges the fraternity refused to sponsor a safety program following the fire, according to The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, Miss. Wynn Smiley, CEO of the […]
So you want to be a boxer in Indiana? There’s a $10 fee to be paid every other year for the privilege. That’s a lot lower than the twoyear fee of $100 paid by architects. A driver’s license is good for five years and costs just $19.50. Whereas your aircraft bears a $10 annual registration fee, your passenger car has a $20.75 annual state fee. If you want to support a special cause, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles charges a…
Chase Education Finance announced today that it will hire as many as 150 of the 265 workers laid off in Indianapolis yesterday by student loan company Nelnet. Chase Education Finance is adding the workers in an attempt to boost its capacity to originate student loans, the bank said. The Chase unit has 250 workers based […]
Hanging out at the art world’s water cooler, but don’t know how to break the ice? Here are several topics IBJ has identified that will be on the tips of the tongues wagging in the local arts scene. Read and discuss amongst yourselves. What do you think of Max Anderson’s leadership at the Indianapolis Museum of Art? Since taking over in mid-2006, staff say Anderson is constantly beating this drum: The IMA is a top-10 encyclopedic museum; it’s time we…
A proposed ban on new truck stops at Greenwood’s two Interstate 65 interchanges has gained unanimous support from the city council. The council also might ban additional gas stations and convenience stores, according to the Daily Journal of Franklin. A lengthy list of businesses, including dog kennels and boat dealers, already is banned by the […]
A group that protested the proposed Illiana Expressway in northwest Indiana has taken sides with landowners who oppose a sprawling intermodal facility planned for LaPorte County. Citizens Against the Privatized Illiana Tollroad is helping Stop Intermodal Save Our County-also to prevent development of farmland, according to the Times of Munster. State and local negotiators are […]
Indianapolis-native Emily Kennerk’s public art won’t be part of the Indianapolis Cultural Trail, a trail spokeswoman said today. Kennerk proposed sculpture, “Play,” depicted five oversized marbles at the intersection of Alabama and Vermont streets and Massachusetts Avenue. Kennerk and trail officials could not agree on the timing or budget for the piece, causing the trail […]
A Texas consulting firm is telling LaPorte County officials in northwest Indiana that a proposed intermodal facility will require 5,000 acres-nearly twice the space initially anticipated, according to the Post-Tribune of Merrillville. Only about 500 acres would be needed for the actual facility, where goods would be shifted back and forth between railroad cars and […]
Warren G. Lichtenstein, who has made a name for himself by launching hostile takeovers, has made his dissatisfaction with Conseco Inc. public in a Securities and Exchange filing. Lichtenstein said he plans to review investment in the Carmel insurer by his Steel Partners II fund and start discussions with Conseco managers and directors “concerning the […]
That’s not what many NFIB members wanted to hear. “I’ve been a member of [the advocacy group] since 1985, and since 1985 the top issue has been health care that is affordable for businesses and employees,” said Barbara Quandt of Indianapolis-based Quality Environmental Professionals Inc. The firm’s health insurance costs increased by 33 percent in 2007, and Quandt said company leaders are “quaking” with dread over what will happen in 2008. QEPI covers 75 percent of insurance costs for its…
The Indiana Farm Bureau today proposed cutting property taxes by about a third, or more than $2 billion, and replacing the lost revenue with higher income and sales taxes. Under the proposal, costs for schools, welfare, local courts and the “rainy day” fund would be shifted from local government to the state. The state personal […]
The LaPorte area has about everything necessary for an intermodal facility, the director of CSX Intermodal said during the annual Indiana Logistics Summit in Indianapolis yesterday. The key to landing an intermodal project is community support, Michael Gallis said. However, while economic developers and other officials in the northwest Indiana city back the idea, many […]
The Indiana Association of Realtors today called for shifting some reliance on property taxes to other revenue sources, but stopped short of advocating eliminating the tax. The trade group didn’t specify which sources should be increased to offset any reduction in property taxes. Replacement revenue should come from “broad-based taxes centered on the ability to […]
The state’s apartment industry, backed by firms that landlords hire to bill their tenants for water and sewer service, says state officials are legally all wet if they try to regulate the industry as utilities. Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission jurisdiction “does not extend to the regulation of a landlord’s water pipes any more than it may extend to a homeowner’s garden hose,” Clayton Miller, a Baker & Daniels attorney representing the Water Sub-Billing and Conservation Coalition, told the commission last…
Now that most of the existing buildings along South Meridian Street downtown have been rehabbed for condos, restaurants or
hotels, developers are eyeing surface parking lots. Local companies filed plans recently to replace two such gaps in the Wholesale
District streetscape with mixed-use projects.
A 24-year-old’s dream for a twisting downtown apartment tower has run into a brick wall. Jaron Garrett couldn’t raise enough money to exercise contracts on the run-down properties he had hoped to…
Here are two renderings of the proposed Ralston Square project. The $60 million South Street project, named in honor of the original planner for Indianapolis, would feature a 150-room hotel, 55 condos, a 617-space parking garage and 41,000 square feet…
The local not-for-profit Leadership Ventures plans to pilot a program that teams not-for-profit CEOs in monthly sessions where they’ll jointly solve problems at one another’s organizations. Besides professional development, the Executive Director Venture Group program seeks to form lasting ties among these CEOs, who often serve in relative isolation and face myriad more duties than their counterparts in private business. “There are a ton of support organizations for businesses, [but] how many are there only available for not-for-profits?” asked Ruth…
