Green developer has $20M pipeline
Is green development finally catching on in Indianapolis? The four owners of Casa Verde LLC certainly hope so. The company has plans for a $14-million, LEED-certified condo project in Columbus. In Indianapolis,…
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Financial crisis offers opening for banks’ market-share reshuffling
Market observers rank today’s credit crisis on par with some of the ugliest moments in U.S. banking history. News service
Bloomberg predicted fourth-quarter lending losses could make it “the worst earnings period for the financial industry since
the Great Depression.” Yet amid the carnage, financial institutions are sniffing around for opportunities.
Developer with environmental bent has $20M pipeline of projects
Expensive suits and luxury cars are standard issue for most developers, but not for the owners of locally based Casa Verde
LLC. Three of four owners sport beards. They build only Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, certified
projects. But don’t let the hippie image mask the company’s mission: Make green by building green.
Pedestrian bridge to state park still in the works: White River venues think hotel complex will be a boost
Developers of the $425 million hotel complex downtown still are working out plans for a pedestrian bridge spanning Washington Street that will connect it to White River State Park. Merrillville-based White Lodging Co. and Indianapolis-based REI Real Estate Services proposed a connector-either a bridge or an underground tunnel-in early designs of the convention hotel complex at the southwest corner of West and Washington streets. Although later site plans did not include the link, REI President Mike Wells said the developers…
Retail woes continue with Cabela’s
Banking on the regional draw of outdoor retail giant Cabela’s, developers have been planning more than 100 acres of hotels, a water park, restaurants and other retail space for the southwest corner of…
Old Centrum to close
The Old Centrum is scheduled to close at the end of March, leaving an uncertain future for the former Central
Avenue United Methodist Church at 12th and Central. The…
Tony townhouses on Penn
Indianapolis developer Axia Urban LLP is putting the finishing touches on Penn Townhouses, a part of its Meridian at 21 development north of downtown. From the outside,…
Inside the new convention center
Ratio Architects today unveiled detailed interior plans for a $275-million expansion of the Indiana Convention Center. The light-filled expansion will feature elevated walkways and a carpet pattern designed to mimic the Hoosier landscape. The plans were revealed at a meeting…
INVESTING: How to remain rational amid market’s turmoil
We can let the mar ket mouthpieces and economists debate whether we are offi cially in a bear market or a recession, but investors don’t need labels to know times are tough. One year ago at this time, the financial world was idyllic Credit was cheap and plentiful. The largest private equity takeover in history was nearing completion, with Sam Zell selling his Equity Office Properties for $40 billion to the Blackstone Group (signaling the market top for real estate…
Busy year, no whoppers: Deals were numerous in 2007, but lack of blockbuster holds overall price tag down
The Indianapolis area didn’t experience a monster-size business transaction in 2007 like it has in recent years, but that doesn’t mean the deal-makers weren’t busy. IBJ’s annual list of Big Deals tracked more large business transactions involving Indianapolis-area companies than ever before in 2007, even though the total dollar amount of the deals was dramatically lower than the previous year’s. Deals compiled by the Indianapolis Business Journal that closed in 2007 totaled $23.4 billion, well below the $38.5 billion posted…
Local builders slash jobs, offices to survive housing slump
At the market’s peak, builders churned out more than 12,000 new homes a year in central Indiana. In the current slump, new-home
production has dropped to fewer than 7,000 per year, leaving builders with no choice but to slash prices, eliminate hundreds
of jobs, and look to unload huge chunks of office space.
Firm that sells sunglasses for large heads lands Wal-Mart deal
In March 2006, USA Today picked up a local newspaper’s profile of Indianapolis-based Fatheadz Inc., the company Rico Elmore
and two partners founded in 2005 to sell eyeglass frames for larger heads. That eventually led to the company’s big break:
A Wal-Mart Stores Inc. executive read the article and ordered buyers to track down Fatheadz to make a deal.
Lucas Oil is looking good
More than 1,000 workers a day in two shifts are scrambling to finish Lucas Oil Stadium, installing everything from seats and concession stand equipment to portions of…
Cummins expansion in Columbus
Cummins Inc. plans to build a four-story, 100,000-square-foot building as part of a revitalization of the old Commons Mall in Columbus. The project calls for demolishing much of the mall and replacing…
When factories close, what’s next?
A Bloomington developer is planning a $20-million revival of the former Thomson Consumer Electronics plant on the city’s near east side. The 50-acre Sherman Park property has become an eyesore since the…
Holy condos! Look at Meridian Arch
One of the city’s most unique condo projects, a reuse of the former Meridian Street Methodist Episcopal Church at 802 N. Meridian St., is almost done. The first new residents of the…
2 restaurants plan new locations
Broad Ripple’s Naked Tchopstix is expanding its original location and adding another along 96th Street. A new bar is scheduled to open this week at the Broad Ripple sushi hotspot….
VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Patent ruling a big victory for biotech, drug industries
Last Halloween a federal court in Virginia gave the biotech and pharmaceutical industries a big treat when it preliminarily halted the Patent and Trademark Office, or PTO, from implementing new rules governing certain aspects of patent prosecution. This ruling was significant because it prevented the PTO from imple menting new rules governing patent applications that many thought would weaken protection of important biological and chemical inventions. Several local life sciences businesses and entities with significant numbers of patent applications in…
Former RCA industrial site to get $20M rehab
A Bloomington company that revived a former Thomson Consumer Electronics/RCA plant in that city is taking a shot at redeveloping
one of the largest industrial eyesores in Indianapolis, also a former RCA complex. Pinnacle Properties plans to spend $20
million redeveloping the 13-building property northwest of Sherman Drive and East Michigan Street.