Cleaning crews are wiping construction dust from the 63,000 seats in Lucas Oil Stadium, prepping for the public’s first peek at the $720 million venue Aug. 16. But the hard work is only beginning for the city’s Capital Improvement Board, the entity charged with operating the stadium. The fumbling point: CIB is anticipating a $20 million operating deficit for Lucas Oil Stadium in 2009.
The Indianapolis Colts will score almost $18 million annually through their new stadium’s title sponsorship and deals with 14 founding sponsors, each of which has its own themed area of the stadium’s interior. Including sponsor agreements for two massive video boards at each end of the stadium, a narrower video board circling the upper reaches of the lower bowl, and other in-stadium deals, the Colts should bring in $20 million, 30 percent more than in the RCA Dome, according to…
Since its inception, the center’s staff has worked with venues ranging from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco to local parks in the Indianapolis area. Besides facilities, it also comes to the aid of individuals. Recently, the center helped a bride who wanted to get married on the beach at sunset. A family member uses an electric wheelchair, so the center offered advice to her Florida hotel on how to construct a portable wheelchair path to the ceremony that…
When Dr. Zao C. Xu moved to Indianapolis in 1986, there were only a handful of other Chinese immigrants working at the Indiana University School of Medicine. Now, there are more than 20. Xu’s wife works at Eli Lilly and Co. When she started there in the mid-1980s, she was one of about 20 Chinese immigrant employees at the pharmaceutical giant. Today, there are more than 500. “Many people who came from China started working in the East or West…
Indiana University President Michael McRobbie announced this afternoon that the school has formed a 13-person search committee to find a replacement for athletic director Rick Greenspan. The search committee will include faculty members, administrators and alumni. The search committee will be…
A housing crunch resulting from a flood of foreclosures has cast the spotlight on the deceptive practices that cause borrowers-particularly those with weak credit-to unknowingly pay more than necessary for a mortgage. The Federal Reserve earlier this month unanimously approved new lending rules in an attempt to tighten standards and prevent another such crisis. The changes will apply to all mortgage lenders and take effect Oct. 1, 2009. In the subprime category, a lender will have to assess a borrower’s…
IUPUI men’s basketball Coach Ron Hunter is making good on a promise he made in January to personally deliver shoes to the poorest of the poor.
Thursday, Hunter and members of the Jaguars team…
To glimpse the priority list of the honchos running the Indiana University medical complex, drive west along Michigan Street and look north toward the IU Hospital. The 38-year-old facility is now nearly totally eclipsed from view by a sparkling, $150 million addition to the IU Simon Cancer Center, which stretches steel, glass and stone across an entire block between University Boulevard and Barnhill Drive. By bulking up its cancer care and research, IU leaders hope to improve the prestige of…
The $80 million-plus Carmel Performing Arts Center, a neo-classical-styled concert hall designed to be an acoustical masterpiece, is still two years from opening. But it’s already the source of some dissonance in the Indianapolis arts community to the tune of Mozart’s String Quartet No. 19, in C major. On one hand, Indianapolis-area performing arts groups would sacrifice to theater god Dionysus for a chance to perform at the 1,600-seat music hall or at its adjacent 500-seat theater. But others fret…
Yankee Stadium, the House that Ruth Built, the home of 26 World Series Champions, a pillar of the Big Apple since 1923, will be demolished next spring.
Yet Indianapolis refuses to put Bush Stadium…
Local big-draw events are itchy to make their first-ever runs in the $675 million Lucas Oil Stadium, in hopes the roomier venue will let them draw more attendees who want to kick the tires and enjoy the new stadium smell. But there’s a trade-off-a bigger price tag to cover security guards, ushers and cleanup. And at least one event is weighing higher ticket prices as a result. “I don’t think there’s any doubt [Lucas Oil Stadium] will cost more based…
Fast-growing Fishers has the kind of assets economic developers dream about-strong schools, affordable housing and median family income of $81,971. Now the town wants to build on that foundation by adding a high-tech business park to its list of amenities. “Businesses are looking to come to a site where they can find employees with the requisite level of education and the ability to get additional education close by. Education is the key,” said Fishers Town Council President Scott Faultless. “We…
FC Indiana, a United Soccer League W-League women’s team, says it is in early discussions with the city of Indianapolis to help develop a plan to renovate Bush Stadium for use during its home games. The Lafayette-based professional team currently plays at Kuntz Stadium, which is across 16th Street from the old baseball stadium. The […]
Andrea Walker is a chemist with management aspirations. But instead of signing up for a traditional MBA program, the team manager at Indianapolis-based AIT Laboratories will enroll this year in a slimmed-down business program that focuses on the life sciences. The program, called the Kelley Executive Certificate in the Business of Life Sciences, is a new creation of Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. The program will conduct most of its classes online over a one-year period. The courses will…
Adam Herbert, who may go down as the sorriest presidential hire in the history of the Big Ten, is nowhere to be seen, those velvety crimson jumpsuits disappearing about the same time Sampson was shown the door. Certain members among the IU trustees-who so violated the trust part of their duties, first in hiring Herbert and then in bringing in Sampson-are not about to step up and take responsibility for their actions. I guess it will all come out some…
Between construction of the Indianapolis Airport’s midfield terminal and Lucas Oil Stadium, John Thompson’s companies have won $11.5 million in work. His plumbing and electrical supply distributorships, as well as his consulting and engineering firms, all at the corner of 22nd Street and College Avenue, collectively have grown annual revenue to $50 million. Such revenue growth would have been impossible for Thompson and scores of other minority and female business owners if not for projects that require their participation. “I…
Well-known names are bubbling to the top as speculation heats up about who will replace embattled Indiana University Athletic
Director Rick Greenspan and how much money the job will command. Greenspan announced June 26 that he’ll step down at the end
of the year. The decision came after the NCAA added to the list of charges facing IU’s men’s basketball program over rules
violations under former Coach Kelvin Sampson.
Indiana University’s former economic development chief, Mark Long, shepherded dozens of scientists and entrepreneurs as they started businesses. Now he’s launched one of his own. This month, Long formed the consultancy Long Performance Advisors Inc. Based in Greenwood, it’s a platform for him to share his expertise in business formation and incubation. Long plans to help startups patent their intellectual property, write their business plans, and sharpen their proposals for federal money. In short, all the things he used to…
One of our sister Midwestern cities is locked in a fight for its corporate identity. A n h e u s e r- B u s c h , maker and distributor of Budweiser brand beers-and the corporate icon of St. Louis-is engaged in a $46.3 billion takeover battle for its survival as a U.S.-based company. The would-be acquirer is Belgium-based InBev, the second-largest brewer by volume in the world. London-based SABMiller, who in 2002 bought Miller Brewing in Milwaukee,…
Few in Indianapolis’ hospitality community knew what to think when Donald Welsh announced he was leaving Seattle to lead convention and tourism efforts here. But Seattle insiders say their loss is Indianapolis’ gain. “He’s behind a lot of the energy in the [Seattle] organization and getting people engaged,” said Anthony Anton, president of the Washington Restaurant Association. That energy will be needed at the Indianapolis Convention and Visitors Association, which is working to fill an expanded Indiana Convention Center and…
