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CHRIS KATTERJOHN Commentary: Orange County casino a losing bet?

I’m starting to get a bad feeling about the Orange County casino project. Truth be told, I’ve had the bad feeling for a long time, and now it’s getting worse. The latest blip on the radar in what has been a challenged project from the get-go is the contentious legal battle that has surfaced between the two partners: Bob Lauth of Lauth Property Group and Bloomington billionaire Bill Cook. I guess that’s not that unusual. Ed Feigenbaum, publisher of Indiana…

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State awarenesss initiative targeting investment fraud: Program touts knowledge to prevent financial scams

Conservative estimates put the amount of money Hoosiers are bilked by investment fraud scammers at $100 million a year. The high-end estimate for victims of pyramid scams, bogus gas and oil ventures and unscrupulous mortgage practices is closer to $800 million. Those involved in catching and prosecuting the scammers say proactively educating people about investments in general and scams in particular would go a long way toward helping the problem. “Our financial illiteracy is high,” said Mark Maddox, managing partner…

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MIBOR under scrutiny by FTC

The Federal Trade Commission recently slammed the Austin Board of Realtors for how the Texas organization runs its multiple-listing service, charging that a policy change barring certain homes from Web search engines runs afoul of federal antitrust laws.

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St. Elmo top-selling restaurant; others sizzle, too

St. Elmo Steak House was the top-selling restaurant in 2005, ringing up $11.3 million in sales, but the Cheesecake Factory, Oceanaire, Maggiano's Little Italy, Sullivan's Steakhouse and P.F. Chang's, among others, all topped $5 million.

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Charter school group to buy Greek Church: Purchaser wants to talk to neighborhood about needs

A not-for-profit that runs roughly 60 schools nationwide has agreed to purchase the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox church at 40th and Pennsylvania streets. Imagine Schools Nonprofit Inc. hopes to set up a charter school at the site, but Jason Bryant, the corporation’s vice president in charge of Illinois and Indiana operations, said it first wanted to hold community meetings to get input on what’s needed. “There is flexibility for each individual school to set its own curriculum,” Bryant said. The…

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New law provides Realtors an edge

A new state law backed by Realtors that critics say stifles cut-rate competition already has prompted a discount brokerage, California-based HomeYeah!, to shutter its operations here.

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Bank boss eyes No. 1: New Fifth Third chief plans expansion, faces tough Chase

The view from John Pelizzari’s 14th-floor office in downtown’s Capital Center is a good one. The recently hired president and CEO of Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bancorp’s central Indiana operations can see the rooftops of many of downtown’s landmarks. And he likes it that way. He’s used to the view from the top. From 2001 to 2005, Pelizzari, 50, captained the ship for Fifth Third’s northern Michigan affiliate, which enjoyed a whopping 28-percent market share, more than 10 percentage points higher…

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Developer goes west with retail: Lauth’s Brownsburg Station to cover nearly 70 acres

Lauth Property Group soon will break ground on Brownsburg Station, a massive retail complex that will be one of the largest in the Indianapolis area. The Brownsburg property, which will be roughly 500,000 square feet and sit on almost 70 acres, will take advantage of the west side’s rapidly growing suburbs. The project received preliminary approval from the town of Brownsburg in late June and needs only to clear a few minor hurdles before building can begin. Tenants could move…

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IPS swap a flop?: Browning tells district to drop land-trade plan; site drew just 3 bids despite prime location

Indianapolis Public Schools is sitting on a 12-acre parcel of prime downtown land it probably could sell for big bucks. But its pursuit of a land swap instead has tempered interest in the site and raised questions about whether such a complicated deal is the way to go. Just three developers responded to IPS’ request for bids on its land east of Massachusetts and College avenues, despite the unsolicited inquiries that drove the school district to explore its options in…

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Market Square project in doubt: Two months before deadline, condo developer won’t talk, scales back its sales effort

The city of Indianapolis already has twice pushed back the deadline for closing a deal with the developer of a high-rise condo project slated for the former Market Square Arena site. Now, with the latest deadline of Aug. 31 looming, officials with developer Market Square Partners LP are incommunicado amid signs they’re struggling to find enough buyers to get the project off the ground. The sales office, once staffed daily, now apparently operates on an appointment-only basis. The developer hasn’t…

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Whole Foods shopping for alternative store site: Will grocery go to Nora instead of Keystone Crossing?

Whole Foods might not be coming to Keystone at the Crossing after all. Residents of the Driftwood Hills neighborhood sued the city in February after it approved a zoning change allowing developer Paul Kite to build a Whole Foods grocery, plus as many as 30 condominiums, on the northwest corner of 86th Street and Keystone Avenue. As residents push on with their effort to block that zoning decision, Whole Foods is exploring other sites, including one in nearby Nora, for…

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Builder targets entire block: Centex in talks to buy land from Shapiro’s Deli, others for downtown development

A national home builder is negotiating to purchase an entire downtown block for a retailand-residential development-a project that could temporarily displace the landmark Shapiro’s Deli. Dallas-based Centex Corp. says the block southeast of the planned Lucas Oil Stadium is among several downtown-area locations it is reviewing for its first local foray into urban residential development. Brian Shapiro, owner of Shapiro’s Deli, 808 S. Meridian St., said he has not reached a final agreement to sell his property. But he hinted…

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Driving through adversity: First-time team owner uses business fundamentals to help reach the finish line

It’s been a bumpy ride for Michael Crawford this year. Scratch that-it’s been like driving into a concrete wall at 190 miles per hour. Repeatedly. The rookie race team owner put his financial livelihood on the line this year to buy two cars and run them in the Indy Pro Series, the open-wheel racing equivalent of AAA baseball, one step below the major leagues. IBJ is following Crawford’s progress in hopes of shedding light on the challenges startups face when…

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INVESTING: Weakness in housing could have sweeping implications

In early May, I wrote this about home-builder stocks: “They failed to break out of their August highs, however, and they have been struggling ever since. This is a textbook example of when the best risk/reward ratio presents itself for shorting.” Using the home-builder exchange-traded fund XHB and selling it short yielded a one-month gain of 18.3 percent. Not bad! If home-building stocks are crushed, what does that say about the real estate market in general? Here are a few…

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Lots of new office space planned along North Meridian: Some say corridor is beating out Keystone

When Walker Information Inc.’s lease was up on its Keystone-area offices, it looked citywide for new space. In February, the company signed a lease for space in a building along the North Meridian Street corridor because it got a good deal from Lauth Property Group Inc., according to Walker’s broker, Samuel F. Smith, of Resource Commercial Real Estate. Several area developers are betting that others will follow Indianapolis-based Walker’s lead, lured by the prestige of a North Meridian Street address….

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BULLS & BEARS: Blunting market volatility is tougher than it sounds

In investing, the term “correlation” refers to how different types of assets move in relation to one another. Investment categories that tend to move in unison are “positively correlated.” Whereas, “non-correlated” or ” l ow – c o r r e l a t e d ” assets will tend to move in opposite directions or at least not in lockstep. This behavioral difference among various asset classes is the primary argument for diversification. By populating your portfolio with some…

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