The law, which passed with bipartisan support in April, created funding plans for most of a $360 million renovation of Bankers Life Fieldhouse and the construction of a $150 million soccer stadium for the Indy Eleven by diverting millions of dollars in annual state tax revenue to the Capital Improvement Board.
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Penske—one of the most influential companies in the history of auto racing—will become just the fourth owner of the iconic track and will take over a series that many believe is on the upswing after many years of struggle.
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Despite no state or federal elections in 2019, Indianapolis and its suburbs made plenty of political news. Voters across the state cast ballots in municipal elections, re-electing Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett plus three Hamilton County mayors. The year also brought plenty of 2020 news.
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The December announcement brought to a bitter close one of central Indiana’s great entrepreneurial success stories. Stephen Russell, the son of a New York City taxi driver, launched the business with a single truck in 1985 and grow it into the largest provider of international truckload services in North America, with more than 150,000 annual border crossings between the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Read MoreAasif Bade has brought in a new team and made a series of promotions as he’s looked to pivot the Ambrose’s focus from a mishmash of developments to more projects in the e-commerce and industrial sectors—in hopes of capitalizing on continued growth and market demand.
The deal, which is expected to close by mid-2020, will swell Elanco from the world’s fourth-largest animal health player to the second-largest, behind only New Jersey-based Zoetis.
Ambrose had detailed plans in 2018 for a $1.4 billion, mixed-use development called Waterside—and said construction would start in 2019. But on Sept. 27, Ambrose said it planned to reposition its business and move away from mixed-use and office projects, including Waterside.
When Scotty’s filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December 2018, it had 19 locations, including seven Indianapolis-area Scotty’s Brewhouses and a Thr3e Wise Men Brewing Co. in Broad Ripple. By the middle of this year, most of those had closed, including all the Indianapolis-area sites.
In August, GateHouse Media, a chain backed by an investment firm, announced it was buying Virginia-based USA Today and Gannett Co., which owned The Indianapolis Star, for $12.06 a share in cash and stock, or $1.4 billion. The deal closed in November.
In one of the year’s highest-profile tech deals, two out-of-state private equity firms took a majority stake in Fishers-based tech company ClearObject, which for years has ranked among the fastest-growing firms in the Indianapolis area.
Aleesia Johnson, a longtime ally of charter schools, was named superintendent of the state’s largest school district—Indianapolis Public Schools—in June, after filling the job on an interim basis for several months.
Inez Evans started as IndyGo’s president and CEO just before the Red Line launched in September—a time of great promise but also complications.
A City-County Council coup, Bren Simon’s big donation, direct flights to Paris and scooters were among the news IBJ covered in 2018.
However, lawmakers did not approve a proposal to allow grocery stores and convenience stores to sell cold beer.
Indianapolis, along with nearly 250 other cities, submitted an application, pitching the metro area as an ideally located, low-cost place to do business that the tech behemoth could really put its stamp on.
Donnelly ran against Republican Mike Braun, who shook up Indiana politics this year, as he defeated U.S. Reps. Todd Rokita and Luke Messer in the GOP primary in May.
The hotels will together have 1,400 rooms, and the development is expected to invigorate the once-celebrated Pan Am Plaza.
Several well-known Indiana companies were acquisition targets, including biotech firm Endocyte Inc., retailer The Finish Line Inc., racino owner Centaur Gaming, auto body chain Church Brothers Collision Repair, banking company MainSource Financial Group, and gas and electric utility Vectren Corp.
A massive fund-raise by Scale Computing assured 2018’s venture capital total will top 2017. It will be part of fourth-quarter numbers that won’t be available until early 2019.
Carson’s left a 145,000-square-foot hole in Circle Centre mall when the three-story department store shut down April 29 following a three-month liquidation sale.
In response to public input, INDOT said in September it would not add extra through lanes to the interchange as planned. INDOT also said its plans now call for the construction of retaining walls in certain areas that are only 7 to 11 feet high at the top of existing berms, rather than the much-higher retaining walls at the foot of the berms that it had originally proposed.
The projects range from full-service hospitals in Bloomington, Brownsburg and Shelbyville to a flurry of “micro-hospitals,” free-standing emergency rooms and urgent care centers.
The year’s big projects include construction at The Yard at Fishers District, a culinary district developed by Indianapolis-based Thompson Thrift.
The 360 Market Square apartment tower opened in March—a $120 million, 27-story structure that redefined downtown’s eastern skyline. Much of the year’s other development took in the Mass Ave district.
