Stout’s Shoes, Japanese steakhouse among businesses planning openings at Carmel development

Indianapolis-based Tegethoff Development’s first project in Carmel is a $78 million apartment, condominium and retail building called The Signature. (Rendering courtesy Tegethoff Development)

A Stout’s Shoes store, a Japanese-style steakhouse, a med spa and a brewery taproom are set to open in the coming months at the northeast corner of Old Meridian and Main streets in Carmel.

Brad Stout, president of Stout’s Factory Shoe Store Co., told IBJ his family-owned company will own a 16,000-square-foot “retail condo” on the first floor of The Signature, a $78 million mixed-use building east of U.S. 31.

The Signature also has eight owner-occupied condominiums, 295 luxury apartments and a 374-space public parking garage. Construction started on the building in November 2021, and residents will begin moving in this spring or summer.

Stout’s Shoes will occupy 3,300 square feet, while the footwear retailer will lease the remaining space to Harmony Steakhouse (8,500 square feet), Indie Lux Atelier (3,300 square feet) and Whitestown-based Moontown Brewing Co. (1,000 square feet).

Stout said Moontown Brewing hopes to open in June, while Stout’s Shoes and Indie Lux Atelier are looking to open in August. Construction at Harmony Steakhouse will take about nine months once work begins.

Harmony Restaurant Group operates a Harmony Steakhouse location in Whitestown. The restaurant group also plans to open in December in downtown Indianapolis at the 220 N. Meridian building, a 20-story office tower that was recast as a 216-unit luxury apartment building in 2022 by Indianapolis-based owner Keystone Group.

According to Harmony’s website, two other locations are also planned: 3851 Vincennes Road and 5145 Noggle Way, both in Indianapolis.

The restaurant serves steak, teppanyaki, sushi, ramen and other Asian-inspired dishes. It also features several hibachi-style tables, where food is prepared on grill tops in front of guests.

Indie Lux Atelier opened in 2021 and operates at 800 S. Rangeline Road at Carmel City Center.

In 2018, Moontown Brewing opened a 15-barrel brewhouse and the 1915 Room Taproom in the historic Whitestown High School gym.

Stout is the great-grandnephew of Harry Stout, who opened the Mass Ave location of Stout’s Shoes in Indianapolis in 1886. The Stout family expanded to Carmel after it purchased a Burger Chef building in 1985 on two acres at Old Meridian and Main streets. Shoe stores in Greenwood and Brownsburg followed in 1992 and 2000.

The Carmel store was expanded after about five years in business, and Stout purchased another two acres in 2008. He began thinking about a new development in 2017, nearly a decade after the Great Recession scuttled his plans for a project at the site.

Stout’s Shoes has landlord status within The Signature because the shoe store sold the roughly 4-acre site to Indianapolis-based Tegethoff Development, which is building condominiums and apartments as well as the parking garage.

“It fits our business plan nicely and it’s a great location, and I’m pretty excited about it particularly because we had the shoe store there since the mid-80s,” Stout said. “It’ll be great to have it open there, and we’re hoping it’s our best store out of the four.”

After closing in 2021 at 13155 Old Meridian St., Stout’s entered a purchase agreement with Tegethoff that resulted in a horizontal property regime. A horizontal property regime allows for condominiums, such as the 16,000-square-foot retail space, to be owned independently while a homeowners association manages the entire property.

Leasing space to other retailers isn’t anything new for Stout’s, which bills itself as the oldest shoe store in the United States. On Mass Ave, Stout’s is landlord to next-door neighbor and taco restaurant Bakersfield.

The company owns the Brownsburg shopping center that includes a Stout’s Shoes location and the Greenwood shopping center that includes a Stout’s.

“It is kind of the tail wagging the dog as far as the real estate versus the shoe business, but you know we still sell a lot of shoes,” Stout said.

In addition to Stout’s roster of brick-and-mortar stores, the company has an e-commerce presence at Shoestores.com that accounts for about one-third of overall sales.