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Slots at horse-racing tracks may boost meeting space: Hotels in long-term plans if ‘racinos’ are successful

Two thousand slot machines at each of Indiana’s two biggest horse tracks should attract hordes of Hoosiers willing to try their luck on the one-armed bandits. But, ultimately, owners want to add meeting and convention space to capture other business as well. Legislation approved by the General Assembly in 2007 permits the slots at horse-racing facilities Hoosier Park in Anderson and Indiana Downs in Shelbyville. The law paves the way for the creation of what many are calling “racinos”-casinos that…

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Commentary: Daniels, IEDC burning things up

My friends at Crain’s Chicago Business have published several stories about the state of Indiana’s economic development efforts since Gov. Mitch Daniels took office and launched the Indiana Economic Development Corp. in 2005. They never used to write much about Indiana. In June that year, an Illinois economic development official was quoted in Crain’s saying, “It seems like every time I turn around on a project along Interstate 80, there’s Indiana breathing down my neck.” A year later, a guest…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Building a business case for what the city needs next

With the deflation of the RCA Dome, Lucas Oil Stadium will become the home of the Colts, the NCAA Final Four and, hopefully, the 2012 Super Bowl. In late October, the new Indianapolis Airport will become the remarkable new gateway to our city. Yes, 2008 should be an amazing year. Then what? Expansion of the Indiana Convention Center and construction of the JW Marriott complex will soon be under way. As we bike around downtown on the Indianapolis Cultural Trail,…

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VIEWPOINT: Get on board with transit, or miss the bus

The Crossroads of America is at a crossroads-a transportation crossroads. And the direction we choose will affect our area’s competitiveness and economy for decades. It’s imperative that we embrace mass transit. Mass transit matters because it correlates to a key concern for companies planning to move or expand: access to a qualified work force. In choosing a community, companies assess obvious factors such as site acquisition costs and taxation, but even those typically take a back seat to work-force access….

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Hoosier Heartland Highway pumps up hope on prairie: Expressway construction starting two years early

LAFAYETTE-For years, they’ve driven on little more than paved-over wagon trails pioneers carved into the hills nestling the Wabash River. Motorists on State Road 25 between Logansport and Lafayette have grown desperate for a replacement: the final, 33-mile western leg of the “Hoosier Heartland Highway.” Today, the Hoosier Heartland expressway ends in Logansport-the western terminus of a newly improved, four-lane U.S. 24 that runs east, to Fort Wayne. But last month Gov. Mitch Daniels surprised highway proponents with word that…

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Big Ten tourney a tough ticket

Big Ten men’s basketball tournament tickets are selling fast, according to local organizers. Approaching noon today, there were only a few seats available for tonight’s session at Conseco Fieldhouse, which includes games involving…

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Indy finalist for USA Basketball HQ

Indianapolis today is one step closer to stealing USA Basketball’s headquarters from Colorado Springs, where the national governing body for men’s and women’s basketball in the U.S. has been located since 1979. IBJ…

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IU follows Purdue lead, overhauls business-development strategy

Indiana University President Michael McRobbie calls it “Innovate Indiana.” His ambition is to corral all of IU’s strengths
under one new branded initiative to boost the Hoosier economy. Purdue University already has leveraged a similar strategy,
promoted with “Go BusinessMakers!” billboards, to national acclaim.

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New Orleans to bid for Super Bowl

Competition to host the 2012 Super Bowl suddenly has become a lot tougher. Last week, officials for the city of New Orleans and New Orleans Saints said they are set to bid for the big game, thrusting the hurricane-battered city…

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Many of state’s new jobs are at call centers

The state’s economic development leaders have been touting 2007 as a banner year that brought commitments for more than 22,000
new jobs, including positions in manufacturing, logistics and life sciences. But almost 20 percent of the announced jobs would
be in call centers–jobs that typically pay near or below the state’s $35,000 average annual wage.

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State goes from first to last in catastrophes: Indiana sails through 2007 without a single large weather event, rebounding from hailstorm of claims in 2006

Indiana weather is notorious for the volatile swings it can produce from one day to the next. Just this month, high temperatures in Indianapolis fluctuated about 40 degrees within 48 hours. The disparity in major storm damage that befell the state the past two years is quite unusual, though, even by Hoosier standards. Statewide property losses totaled $1.5 billion in 2006, the most in the nation, due in large part to what’s become known as the Good Friday hailstorm. Last…

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NFL Combine, Ice smash records

It was a big weekend in Indianapolis. A record 420 credentialed media poured into town to report on the NFL Scouting Combine at the RCA Dome, while a 2007-08 league-high 12,575 fans…

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Indy to host Urban Forum: Group that helps revitalize properties to showcase city’s projects

Visitors in Indianapolis for the Urban Forum in April might patronize Jockamo Upper Crust Pizza in Irvington not only to sample the food but also the success of a neighborhood business district revitalization program. The pizzeria benefited from an effort called Fostering Commercial Urban Strategies, or FOCUS, through a $16,000 facade grant from the Indianapolis chapter of the Local Initiatives Support Corp. Indianapolis is one of 30 cities boasting LISC chapters. Nationally, they invested more than $1 billion in low-income…

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Streetcars work in Portland, but viability here uncertain

If the introduction of modern streetcars to one West Coast city can be replicated here, Indianapolis would see new, higher-density
housing and related retail and restaurants shadowing the line. Fallow areas crossed by the tracks would become fertile for
new investment. At least that was the case in Portland, Ore., a city mesmerizing to Indianapolis civic leaders, who last month
formed Downtown Indianapolis Streetcar Corp. They risk being run out of town on a rail: a streetcar line will cost…

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Commentary: Ice Miller finds gem in ag hire

Indianapolis law firm Ice Miller recently announced the formation of an Agricultural Law Initiative and named Beth Bechdol as its director of agribusiness strategies. The group includes more than a dozen attorneys and industry specialists. The recruitment of Bechdol is a brilliant move that was ultimately possible because of a family tragedy. Bechdol is a farm girl from just outside of Auburn who graduated from Georgetown University in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in foreign service and visions of becoming…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Protestors shouldn’t control community development

N e i g h b o r h o o d activists in Pittsburgh are fighting a development that would bring a grocery store, job training center, youth programs and other social services to the area of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ $290 million arena. The Pittsburgh group was planning a march in protest. Is retail and commercial development next to a sports arena a bad idea? A Cambridge, Mass., neighborhood group was opposed to the development of three townhomes, arguing…

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NFL Combine happy in Indy

With all that’s happening on the local sports scene, it’s easy to forget about the NFL Scouting Combine, which begins today in the RCA Dome. The Combine, which was first held in Indianapolis in 1987, is an event that has…

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Irsay remains key to Super Bowl bid

While Mayor Greg Ballard and his team plan to announce today their intent to bid for the 2012 Super Bowl, sources within the league said Indianapolis Colts’ owner Jim Irsay will be the determining factor.

“They could be the Emerald City,…

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Uphill battle ahead: State poses tough test for new enviro leader

By the time Jesse Kharbanda earned a Rhodes scholarship to study at Oxford, the University of Chicago student already knew he wanted to advocate environmental policies in the developing world, someday. Eight years later, some might say Kharbanda has landed in the developing world, all right-Indiana, insofar as it’s considered the backwater of environmental stewardship. One might recall the state’s 49thplace ranking in a 2007 review of “greenest” states by Forbes magazine. Only West Virginia-a national leader in illiteracy-scored worse….

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Pan Am Plaza building exodus

IBJ reported Jan. 21 that USA Diving, USA Gymnastics, USA Track & Field and U.S. Synchronized Swimming were considering relocating to the Disciples of Christ building on East Washington Street. None of the officials for those sports-sanctioning bodies would confirm…

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