305 condos replacing apartments
A $150-million luxury condo development known as Renaissance Bay will replace an apartment complex along Keystone Avenue at 78th Street. All that remains of The Landings apartments are massive piles of concrete…
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Condo craze on Winthrop Avenue
A local developer is hoping to build another dense condo project in Broad Ripple along Winthrop Avenue. The proposal by locally based Page Development would bring 27 condos to 1.5 acres between Winthrop and the Monon Trail, just south of…
Rescue for MSA site fell short
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.
Web rates get banks’ attention: Some try to compete by boosting savings yields
In an effort to lure new customers, more traditional banks are beginning to emulate their Internet adversaries and offer online savings accounts boasting much higher annual yields. Customers are increasingly turning to Internet banks because they offer highyield savings accounts that don’t require massive balances. First Internet Bank of Indiana, founded in 1998 by local tech entrepreneur David Becker as the first state-chartered Internetonly bank, has seen its assets grow to more than $530 million in less than a decade…
RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: IT departments are often overworked and underfunded
Why do trucking companies overload their trucks, when they know they’ll damage the very highways they need for their livelihoods? Why do people keep defiantly watering their lawns in d r o u g h t – s t r i c ke n areas? Why do we buy cheap goods from discount retailers when we know they were made in sweatshops? And why do employees download streaming audio and video, when they’re repeatedly warned that these things turn high-speed…
If you’re out this weekend…
Let me know what you see. Notice a new project or for-sale sign? Leave me a comment, and I’ll try to find out what’s going on. What have you seen lately?
North side project to include Paradise
A two-building office and retail complex at the corner of Meridian and 96th Street will include a Paradise Bakery & Cafe and a McAlister’s Deli. Landmark Properties is developing the 45,700-square-foot project…
Reviving Mass Ave’s East End
A development team is hoping to replace an Indianapolis Public Schools operations center on Mass Ave with up to 400 homes and 200,000 square feet of retail space. The project would encompass 11 acres and preserve an historic former Coca-Cola…
Another Candlewood hotel planned
Developers are planning a new 80-room Candlewood Suites hotel on the east side at 21st Street and Shadeland Avenue. Constructed is slated to start next summer on the hotel, which would be the fourth in Indianapolis for the InterContinental Hotels…
New pet store will include hotel
A new PetSmart store opening soon at Trader’s Point will be home to a 157-room PetsHotel, the first for the chain in Indiana. The store is slated to open in June and will…
Take Two: Old theater gets new life
A landscaping company is moving into the long-vacant former General Cinema theater at Lafayette Square Mall. Mainscape Inc. has signed a temporary lease and is working on a long-term deal with Simon Property Group, the mall’s owner. The company tore…
Darden closing 7 Indiana restaurants
Apparently Darden Restaurants is no longer keen on the Hoosier dining scene. The Orlando, Fla.-based company announced this weekend it’s closing seven restaurants in Indiana, including Smokey Bones Barbeque and Grill locations in downtown Indianapolis and Avon, and the just-opened…
East end of Mass Ave poised for rebirth
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.
Not-for-profit thrift stores shake low-end image
Thrifty Threads store manager Tim Waldrip can hardly keep up when he puts stylish used clothes on the thrift store’s mannequins.
Customers snag them so quickly he has to change the outfits three to four times a day. Regardless of what its mannequins are
wearing, the not-forprofit shop on West 86th Street is flourishing. Sales in 2006 reached $336,000-a 24-percent increase from
the previous year. Now the Julian Center, the Indianapolis shelter for abused women that runs Thrifty Threads, is…
Hotel proposed over Canal
A Kansas developer has proposed a hotel, restaurant and retail space that would form a bridge over the Central Canal in the tradition of Ponte Vecchio in Florence, Italy (pictured). The plan…
Don’t cry for me, downtown eyesore
An Argentinian restaurant called Taste of Tango is moving into a vacant building along East Washington Street downtown. The new owner, local real estate broker Fabricio Perez, has begun renovations and…
North side retail nuggets
A new Yats restaurant has opened in Fishers, at 8352 E. 96th St. The Cajun and Creole favorite is next door to a Blockbuster half a mile east of Interstate 69. The locally owned restaurant also has locations on College…
Offers pour in for Guaranty Building
The 98-year-old Guaranty Building on Monument Circle has attracted several prospective buyers, said Mike McMains, who owns the property with John Barnard. The local entrepreneurs bought the 9-story, 100,000-square-foot building at 20…
Bahama Breeze skips town
The popular island-themed restaurant along East 96th Street closed Friday, surprising many customers. A spokesman for Orlando-based Darden Restaurants said the company closed 9 restaurants that weren’t in the best locations or performing…
First Indiana Plaza for sale?
Property Lines is hearing the owners of First Indiana Plaza are considering a sale of the struggling skyscraper. The 425,000-square-foot building is owned by New York-based Crown Properties Inc. The building’s general manager, Julie Clements, said today she has no…