I love summer. Especially June, when you know you have months of great weather left. Of course, there always are people who complain. There is always the possibility of a few bad storms now and again, but with a slight perspective on the calendar, you know how much time you have left before the cold. Too bad the stock market is not like the seasons. But in a way, it can be looked at from a weatherman’s perspective. His record…
T h e m a n a g e – ment team at Duke Realty Corp. is proving itself adept at juggling these days. The Indianapolis-based industrial, office and retail developer wowed Wall Street with a 25-percent increase in fourth-quarter funds from operations, a key measure of performance for Duke and other real estate investment trusts. The company received a lift, in part, from a spate of property sales. But the solid results weren’t an aberration for the relatively low-profile…
Buckingham Cos., the Indianapolis-based owner/manager of more than 60 apartment complexes in five states, has broadened its
development sphere to include three square blocks of downtown real estate.
Downtown developments soon will come under extra scrutiny, once new design guidelines are approved in the spring. Known as Urban Design Indianapolis, the process of developing the criteria fell on the shoulders of several groups: the Department of Metropolitan Development, Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana, Ball State University’s architectural school and the Urban Design Oversight Committee. The intent is not to mandate to developers that their buildings meet certain design standards, but rather that the cosmetics coalesce with the existing…
Revitalization efforts had been plodding along for years in the triangleshaped historic neighborhood known as Fletcher Place. The slower pace of development gave the neighborhood just southeast of downtown a lower profile than places like Chatham Arch and Lockerbie Square. But Fletcher Place is under the radar no more, thanks to a massive eight-story condo project known as Villaggio at Page Pointe. The 64-unit building-now the neighborhood’s tallest structure-looks like it could be in Florida, except its panoramic views capitalize…
The new owners of Keystone at the Crossing and Precedent Office Park-two prominent, but aging, business parks on the city’s north side-are undertaking major projects to stay competitive amid a rising glut of office space. Both office complexes became popular corporate addresses after their development in the 1980s and enjoyed near-maximum occupancy throughout much of their history. But vacancy rates at the high-profile parks have begun to climb in recent years. Indianapolis-based commercial real estate investment manager HDG Mansur, on…
In 2006, $645 billion was sunk into real estate investments across the globe, according to a recent Cushman & Wakefield report. Of that, $187 billion was sent across borders to invest. And companies everywhere are chasing the most cost-effective spots to locate factories and needed hubs for office space. With all that cash changing hands, several locally based companies have made sure they’re positioned to help play a part. Take Indianapolis-based HDG Mansur, for example. In the field for 25…
We are still in a bull market. It’s an old one, and on a global scale not everything is exactly firing. Bigname stocks like Apple and Google are getting knocked around, and the money you plowed into Chinese stocks a few months ago is losing ground. But on a risk-adjusted basis, we are in a place to make some decent money. You just have to know where to look. The “where” is the part giving investors fits lately. By taking…
I closed my last column by suggesting that the markets seem to be paying little attention to risk across a broad range of asset classes. One measure of risk is stock market volatility, or the magnitude of ups and downs in stock prices. The Wall Street Journal recently reported the following statistics compiled by the market analysts at Ned Davis Research: It has been almost 1,000 trading days since the Dow Jones industrial average has seen a 10-percent decline from…
Big-name restaurants scouting for Indianapolis locations have snubbed the south side for years. Eateries like Champps, Cheesecake Factory and Rock Bottom Brewery headed north, drawn by upscale developments and affluent neighborhoods, or downtown to capitalize on the high-traffic from convention visitors. But now, more high-end restaurants are showing interest in the south side, local retail brokers say. Among the chains looking are Fox & Hound, Champps and Old Chicago, a pasta and pizza concept that’s part of the Rock Bottom…
But as more people seek out healthier food and become conscious of high fat and calorie counts in Steak n Shake’s staples,
some are staying away or not visiting as often. To fight back, the chain is working on a barrage of healthier menu options,
including yogurt shakes, chicken sandwiches and new salads. Perhaps a variation on the slogan that started it all in Normal,
Ill., in 1934 is in order: “In Sight It Must Be Light.” The first leaner…
Each week at David Alan Chocolatier in Lebanon, three employees make a different variety of chocolate truffles, nut clusters
and other chocolate-laden delights. Alan uses 7,000 pounds of chocolate a year to make his products out of the renovated gas
station he has operated at since 1984.
City officials haven’t given up hope on keeping 1,400 lucrative manufacturing jobs at an Indianapolis steering parts plant, but Ford Motor Co. has. The company this month said it will close the facility by the end of 2008. A closure will leave the 1.8-millionsquare-foot building empty, but real estate observers say it could be redeveloped as leaseable industrial space-as shuttered Chrysler, Maytag and Western Electric factories nearby have been. Some of the premier projects in the area are leasing well,…
Last year was a record-shattering period for the Indianapolis-area merger and acquisition market, thanks in large part to the loss of one public corporation. Guidant Corp.’s acquisition by Boston Scientific Corp. for $28.4 billion last year and the related sale of its vascular business to Abbott Laboratories for $4.1 billion made the 2006 Big Deals list bigger than ever. That’s because the two deals made up about 85 percent of the $38.5 billion of M&A activity tracked down by the…
A little-known refining and petroleum products company on the city’s west side has the distinction of being the only company in the state to go public in 2006. Calumet Specialty Products Partners LP filed its initial public offering last January. It completed the process in June by selling 5.7 million shares of stock at $21.50 each, ultimately raising $122.5 million. Shares since have nearly doubled in value, thanks in part to rising prices in the petroleum industry. While Calumet’s decision…
NAPLES, Fla.-Here I am more than 1,000 miles from Indianapolis and yet feeling right at home. Seems like everywhere I turn, there are signs of the city. The first night I was here, I ate dinner at a restaurant where six Indianapolis people I know were sitting at the table next to ours. During the course of my stay so far, American United Life Insurance Co. held a board retreat here and the St. Vincent Hospital Foundation threw a fund-raiser…
J. Greg Allen & Associates has made a name for itself building suburban subdivisions, office buildings and retail complexes.
Now, the developer is poised to tackle a pair of projects downtown.
Being an Indianapolis Colts fan doesn’t mean you will necessarily succeed at running a Colts-themed restaurant, but Blue Crew
Sports Grill owners Randy Collins, Dan Dilbeck and Everett Myers aren’t ordinary fans. They are three pillars on which one
of the National Football League’s biggest fan clubs has been built.
Ohio-based Huntington Bank’s plans to buy Sky Financial Group Inc. will mean more available office space in a downtown market already awash in it. “People never merge without reducing their space,” said Jeff Harris, president of locally based Meridian Real Estate. “[This merger] is not going to have a monumental effect overall, but it’s just more square feet, another hole to be filled.” Columbus, Ohio-based Huntington Bancshares Inc. announced Dec. 21 that it agreed to purchase Bowling Green, Ohio-based Sky…
Marsh Supermarkets Inc. saw big changes in 2006 as new owners and a new CEO took over, and the Fishers-based company announced store closures and layoffs. Boca Raton, Fla.-based Sun Capital Partners in October closed on its $88-million purchase of Marsh. The purchase included the assumption of about $200 million in debt. For the first time since the company’s founding in 1931, a Marsh isn’t calling the shots at Marsh Supermarkets. With the deal’s closing, Sun installed Frank Lazaran, the…
