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Pervious concrete usage expected to rise in Indiana: Product touted as friendlier to environment, developers

“That’s called bioaugmentation,” said Pat Kiel, executive director of the Indiana Ready Mix Concrete Association. “Concrete science meets bioscience.” Nearly 90 percent of pollutants are typically carried by the first 1-1/2 inches of a daily rainfall into rivers and streams, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA requires that the first threefourths of an inch of rain each day be maintained on site until treated. Typically, most of that water, which includes “first flush” contaminants, is collected in…

NOTIONS: The power of nature and the perils of human nature

Some colleagues and I drove south into Evansville last week just as the remnants of Hurricane Katrina blew in from the north. As we pulled into the parking lot of our destination, we watched workers battling wind and rain on the walk from their cars to the office. Twice, we saw sturdy umbrellas, held nearly horizontal against the oncoming gale, collapse upon their users. The drenched souls fumbled with the resulting maze of metal and fabric as they struggled across…

Indiana Avenue looks for more than history: Cultural district faces redevelopment challenges

Broad Ripple has clubs and shops. Massachusetts Avenue has galleries and theaters. Indiana Avenue has history. But history alone doesn’t necessarily draw visitors and their dollars, something the organizers of the Indiana Avenue Cultural District know well. With the third annual Indiana Avenue Renaissance Festival, scheduled Sept. 9-11 at the Madame Walker Theatre Center, the cultural district hopes to capitalize on that history. Although the jazz and blues festival lasts only a weekend, it’s a step toward creating a neighborhood…

BEHIND THE NEWS: Here’s a Blues performance that won’t get you down

Anthem Inc.’s $1.9 billion initial public offering in late 2001 set all kinds of records. It was the biggest IPO for a U.S. health care company ever, and the biggest IPO for a Hoosier company of any kind. But that company, now known as WellPoint Inc., was puny compared with its size today. Then, it had a market value of $3.9 billion; now, thanks to acquisitions and a surging stock price, it’s worth $45 billion. WellPoint shares were trading last…

BULLS & BEARS:

A bouillabaisse of market thoughts … Chinese IPOs have caused some recent market excitement, and the best fireworks display was by Baidu.com, a Chineselanguage Internet search engine that went public Aug. 5. Baidu.comopened at $27 on a Friday and at the close of business had soared to $122. On the next Monday, some poor soul paid $153 for it. In the weeks following Baidu.com’s pyrotechnics, there was talk about how the Chinese and Indian economies are booming and their stock…

Ancient sport of kings still appeals to Hoosiers: Hickory Hall Polo Club keeps game alive on Boone County farm

A handful of noisy chickens and a small herd of goats meander around two neatly kept barns that house about a dozen horses, their stalls overlooking the 10-acre field that’s 300 yards long and 160 yards wide. As horses emerge from their stalls with the help of the Chandlers’ assistant, it becomes clear these are no common steeds. Their deep chests heave with each breath, their nostrils sucking in air like a Hoover, ribs lightly protruding through their lean physiques….

City’s mall gamble paid off: After 10 years, Circle Centre at core of rejuvenated downtown

In February, Goldsmith suspended construction while he and advisers analyzed options. Within months, he gave Circle Centre the green light, and construction resumed-but not because he was convinced the project would succeed. “In the end, we decided job creation in the urban core and the psychological survival of the city were dependent on some development occurring downtown,” recalled Goldsmith, now a professor at Harvard University. “We went forward with the mall with great anxiety.” Today, 10 years after the September…

Computer Renditions: Technology firm building from plateau Computer Renditions on target to grow revenue in 2005

Being robbed in broad daylight on your first day as a small-business owner is not exactly a good omen, but it didn’t stop Computer Renditions Inc. founder Christopher Stater. Stater was headed to a meeting with IT consulting client Anheuser-Busch one morning 11 years ago when he was accosted in a Columbus, Ohio, hotel parking lot. A robber sprayed his face with a chemical fire extinguisher and stole his briefcase. “They made me go to a hospital,” Stater remembered, “but…

CHRIS KATTERJOHN Commentary: Connections compel volunteerism

A kind of convergence overwhelmed me this week. It peaked when I received an e-mail Aug. 30 from my counterpart at New Orleans CitiBusiness. The publisher of the business journal serving the Big Easy was facing the Big Difficult: He was trying to put out his next issue from Baltimore because he and his employees couldn’t get to their offices, courtesy of Hurricane Katrina. Turns out that was the lesser of two evils. He also wrote: “My home is near…

VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: The world might be flat, but construction costs aren’t

For the most part, construction has been a local story, a story about local workers building buildings in our community. But the story isn’t so local anymore. Global economic forces have begun to intersect with local issues at the construction site. The result: a significant and ongoing increase in construction costs across central Indiana and the rest of the United States-an increase that shows no signs of slowing. Through the first quarter of 2004, construction costs increased at a calm…

Real estate veteran gets back into sales: Andrew Banister joins CB Richard Ellis team in red-hot market

In the past five years, local real estate veteran Andrew J. Banister has changed jobs four times. With the most recent switch, Banister is right back where he started-with the investment sales team at the local office of CB Richard Ellis. Banister, 55, on Aug. 29 began his first official day working with John Merrill and Gary Woodworth, who in recent years have engineered sales of some of the city’s most prominent office buildings at record-high prices. It’s a familiar…

Architects from 3 states to showcase work at event: City welcomes AIA’s Ohio Valley Region convention

The convention kicks off with a shotgun golf outing Sept. 14 at Pebble Brook Golf Club. After golf, attendees can tour five downtown architectural firms. Workshops that begin the next day will follow three tracks of programs-design, community projects and professional development, Kunce said. They will cover a variety of topics including starting a practice, building code requirements, civic initiatives and design- About 250 architects from Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana will converge downtown Sept. 14-17 when Indianapolis hosts the American…

IPS building consensus before building: So far, seeking input from neighbors has avoided major legal fights during $832 million construction program

A plan to renovate School 57 in the eastside Irvington neighborhood might require the demolition of three nearby homes whose owners welcome the idea. That is in stark contrast to the Meridian-Kessler residents who vehemently opposed a proposal earlier this year that could have taken three houses to accommodate the expansion of School 84. But in both instances, Indianapolis Public Schools is likely to avoid invoking eminent domain powers to forcefully acquire the properties. In doing so, the school corporation…

Fuel hike might ground ATA plan: Fleet-cut savings nearly wiped out

On the expenses line of ATA Airlines Inc.’s battered books, the savings associated with a fleet reduction might have been accounted for as a tailwind that accelerated its flight to financial solvency. Paring 35 of its 82 aircraft in the first half of this year saved the Indianapolis carrier $49 million in jet fuel and oil expenses. That’s big money for the bankrupt airline: half of what it’s trying to raise from investors to pull out of Chapter 11 and…

RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: Is Google everything it’s cracked up to be?

It’s often hard to tell what’s a gimmick, and what’s a real business tool. As I sit staring thoughtfully at Google’s stripped-down, Zenlike home page, I can’t decide whether it’s another Clippy (the annoying animated paperclip character introduced in Microsoft Word 97), or another paperclip (which is so ubiquitous and essential in business that we don’t even think of it as technology anymore). It could be either, or even both. Google has left the desktop in Microsoft’s grasp, but staked…

EYE ON THE PIE: We need better number-crunchers

Quietly, the Daniels administration is doing something that may be a historic first: It is trying to improve the information available for administrators, legislators, analysts, scholars and ordinary citizens. It’s a big task, with many barriers to success. Typically, units of state and local governments don’t share data with one another. They think narrowly about what they have to do today and don’t consider the needs of anyone else. The Indiana Data Initiative-which involves Indiana University, other state universities and…

Anthem to sponsor Free Thursdays at art museum:

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Indiana has signed on as the presenting sponsor of Free Thursdays at the Indianapolis Museum of Art through the end of the year. The sponsorship allows IMA to continue offering free admission to both the museum and the Oldsfield-Lilly House and Gardens. Anthem was right for the sponsorship because it paralleled the IMA’s mission, said IMA spokeswoman Suzanne Peralta Wolski. “Improving health of people we serve’ is Anthem’s commitment to the community,” Wolski…

Indianapolis responds to Katrina devastation:

Local philanthropic response to the epic disaster was almost immediate. Television and radio stations alike urged central Indiana audiences to make donations at dozens of collection sites, and the Salvation Army’s Indiana Division broke out its red kettles to help. The corporate community also responded. Gifts made by IBJ’s deadline include: Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. said it will contribute $1 million to the American Red Cross and match all contributions made by its U.S. employees. Lilly also will give…

VIEWPOINT: Customers in search of the ‘wow’ factor

“Please step up and use the self-service check-in screen,” the airline customer service representative told the man in front of me on a recent busy Monday morning. “No,” was the quick and startling response. “I don’t want to. I prefer to deal with a human being.” It was the CSR’s response that stopped me in my tracks. “Then, Sir, deal with another airline,” she said as she turned to deal with a luggage issue. Maybe it was the starkness of…

Stadium neighbors see rising property values: Investors, entrepreneurs eye southwest side of downtown 70

The south end of downtown may not qualify as the hottest real estate market in town, but since plans for a new stadium were unveiled in January, the largely industrial area surrounding it has definitely heated up. Plans call for the stadium to be built on a two-square-block site bordered by Capitol Avenue, and South, Missouri and McCarty streets, now mostly occupied by surface parking. In the area surrounding that parcel, real estate sources report rising land prices and increased…