Not long ago, developers seemed to vie for every square inch of open ground in the vicinity of the just-completed Lucas Oil
Stadium. These days, the entire neighborhood has been pushed, if not into a financial deep freeze, then at the very least
to the back of the crisper drawer.
A local real estate veteran who had planned to retire has instead jumped back into the game with the purchase of two vacant
downtown properties he plans to convert to market-rate apartments.
The City-County Council voted 15-14 last night to approve raising the local hotel tax from 9 percent to 10 percent in a move
intended to help the cash-strapped Indianapolis Capital Improvement Board close a $47 million operating deficit.
The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis wants the city to tear down the old Winona Memorial Hospital so it can build a community park and outdoor learning center. A private firm that specializes in environmentally
impaired properties wants to turn the building into senior apartments.
Later this summer, architects, urban planners, economists and hydrologists from around the city and around the nation will
come to Indianapolis to begin planning for the redevelopment of the area near 22nd Street and the Monon Trail. Known
as the American Institute of Architects Sustainable Design Assessment Team, it will work with neighborhood organizations
and city leaders to develop a renewal plan to turn this blighted area into a thriving neighborhood.
The city has unveiled a dramatic plan for new housing and retail development to revitalize the old Market Square Arena site.
Despite some shortcomings, the project deserves a chance to give the stagnant area a boost.
A local architecture firm hopes to challenge hip Mass Ave with an arts-themed development in Fletcher Place. The $9 million
project would include apartments, retail and office space.
In the midst of a $1.2 million campaign to upgrade streets, sidewalks and other neighborhood infrastructure, a coalition of Irvington businesses and residents is launching a unique marketing campaign to tout the neighborhood’s recent enhancements and position it as an alternative to places such as Carmel, Zionsville, Geist and Noblesville.
Local leaders and, soon, a national team of experts, are quietly developing a strategy to revitalize Marion County’s biggest
concentration of brownfield sites and impoverished urban neighborhoods, centered at East 22nd Street and the Monon Trail.
A local developer is hoping to convert an unfinished eight-story luxury condo project downtown into a mostly affordable apartment
building with its headquarters on the top floor.
Locally based Flaherty & Collins Properties plans to build retail and residential space on land that surrounds two downtown public housing towers.
Mayor Greg Ballard worries his predecessor, Bart Peterson, may have overreached with his ambitious tax-increment-financing
district for the last phase of Fall Creek Place. That phase of the renewed urban neighborhood isn’t producing enough revenue
to support its $6.2 million in outstanding bonds. And Ballard is not sure all of Marion County’s 37 other TIF district are
necessary, either.
Charter Homes owner Jerry Jaquess fancies himself a white knight for King Park, a neighborhood once known mainly for its
rampant crime, boarded-up homes and vacant lots. But as he’s constructed a slew of homes and carriage houses there, the local
builder has stirred up several lawsuits, dozens of liens and persistent questions about whether his business is legit.
A trendy bar and an upscale hotel have agreed to anchor the 11-story Ralston Square project slated for South Street between
Meridian and Pennsylvania streets. The developers of the $60 million mixed-use project are moving forward after landing the
tenants necessary to secure a loan commitment, said Brian Epstein, president of locally based Urban Space Commercial Properties
and a partner on the project.
There was a time when residents of Meridian Kessler, Butler Tarkington, and Broad Ripple viewed North Meridian Street as a
connection between their neighborhoods. These days, the road feels more like a divide-an intimidating commuter highway between
downtown and the northern suburbs that discourages pedestrian and bicycle traffic. A partnership of community groups including
the Meridian Street Foundation is hoping to change that by giving the neighborhoods a collective identity–Midtown–and mixing
private and public money to fund major infrastructure improvements.
Two high-profile property developers are squaring off for the rights to transform a six-story apartment complex adjacent to
the Central Library downtown. Van Rooy Properties and Buckingham Cos. both submitted proposals to redevelop the Ambassador
apartments at 39 E. Ninth St., just north of the library.
A local developer plans to spend up to $45 million building a “north village of downtown” on several parcels it has assembled
near the Central Library. Buckingham Cos. plans to build apartments, offices, restaurants and retail space-all surrounding
its headquarters in the three-story Stokely-Van Camp building at the southeast corner of Meridian and St. Joseph streets.
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.
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.
The Nature Conservancy has agreed to buy a blighted industrial property on the eastern edge of downtown to develop a new Indiana
headquarters. The $4.5 million project–which will revitalize or replace the former home of Nemec Heating & Supply Co. at
614 E. Ohio St.–should provide another boost to an area that has been bulking up on development, mainly residential.
