The retail juggernaut at 86th Street and Keystone Avenue could get even stronger in the next several years. Locally based
Premier Properties USA Inc. revealed plans in 2007 for a $750 million redevelopment of a prime corner near The Fashion Mall
at Keystone.
Entertainment is a big part of a $480 million development proposed for the south side of downtown–plans include a 3,400-seat
theater to attract the likes of Bruce Springsteen and first-run tours of Broadway shows such as “Wicked.” The question is
whether the city can support another midsize venue.
If Circle Centre mall were built today, it would cost $420 million. Throw in another $60 million, and you’ve got the price
of Legends District-SoDo, a proposed mixed-use development on the south edge of downtown.
A long-neglected neighborhood south of downtown called Babe Denny suddenly is in the spotlight, attracting attention from
city planners, code enforcers, land speculators and a politically connected attorney.
A legal fight is brewing over a 2.3-acre parking lot sandwiched between the RCA Dome and Lucas Oil Stadium. The state is seeking
to acquire the property through eminent domain and is fighting an appraisal that puts its value at $7 million. The owners,
meanwhile, contend the land is worth about twice as much.
The developer of a $750 million mixed-use project called Venu has acquired a 13-acre site across the street from where another
developer had planned to build condos and a Whole Foods Market.
A local development team is working on a 10-story, mixed-use tribute to a man who helped design the original plan for Indianapolis,
Alexander Ralston. The $60 million project, dubbed Ralston Square, would feature a 150-room hotel, 55 condos, a 617-space
parking garage and 41,000 square feet of retail space.
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.
Indianapolis has initiated the redevelopment process for Bush Stadium, its shuttered sports landmark. The Metropolitan Development
Commission has hired a pair of local firms for $25,000 to appraise historic Bush Stadium–a first step toward reuse or, more
likely, at least partial demolition.
Jaron Garrett hasn’t developed anything like the 25-story tower he’s proposing. And he doesn’t come close to having the financial
muscle to pull off the $30 million project on his own. But Garrett is determined to sell his vision of transforming a downtown
eyesore at Washington and Pennsylvania streets into a twisting glass-and-steel apartment tower.
With the Nov. 6 mayoral election looming, Mayor Bart Peterson seems content to wait for a third term to choose who will redevelop
the Market Square Arena site. He’s willing to put off the opportunity to wipe past failures clean in large part because the
political climate has changed.
Fallout from the subprime mortgage fiasco has scuttled a developer’s plans to acquire Pan Am Plaza and could complicate a
host of other development deals under way in Indianapolis.
A Texas firm has agreed to buy Pan Am Plaza’s 12-story office building and skating rinks and is planning to replace the rinks
with a more-than-$50-million restaurant and retail development.
After years of designing banks, churches and condo conversions, Prince/Alexander Architects Inc. is working
with unnamed partners on a plan to replace its headquarters with a $47 million, 24-story hotel and condo development called
West Merrill Tower.
The questions these days among residents of Lakes at the Crossing, a quiet community of 77 condos tucked behind a strip center
and an office park along 86th Street at Keystone Avenue, are: Who will sell, and for how much?
South-side developer J. Greg Allen is pitching a massive project along Pennsylvania Street downtown that includes hotel towers–one
28 stories, the other 17–to be built on property now used mainly for surface parking.
An Indianapolis firm that helped haul away the demolished DaimlerChrysler Corp. foundry last year has placed a mechanic’s
lien on the automaker’s property, potentially complicating the sale of the 34 acres already challenged by environmental issues.
A local firm plans to redevelop a quiet corner near the Fashion Mall into a mixed-use behemoth with a full-service hotel,
5,000-seat theater, hundreds of condos, and more than a million square feet of office and retail space.
A high-profile local firm that quietly negotiated last fall to salvage the stalled redevelopment of the Market Square Arena
site abandoned its plans when the city decided instead to solicit new proposals early this year.
Bustling foot traffic at lunchtime and at night helps sustain many of the restaurants, shops and galleries in the vibrant
Mass Ave downtown neighborhood. But few of the Massachusetts Avenue shoppers and diners on foot venture east of the psychological
barrier that is College Avenue.
