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VIEWPOINT: Lack of basic skills hurts competitiveness

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? There is a businesseducation slant to the age-old argument. The business community contends that the state’s colleges and universities are not producing enough graduates to meet their needs. Highereducation advocates, on the other hand, say the qualified graduates are in place, but a lack of jobs within Indiana sends them packing to other states. We’ll leave that argument for another day. There is another major workplacepreparedness issue, however, that is rightfully drawing…

Studies praised, panned in convention, stadium debate: Proponents say marketplace provides more evidence

Numbers may well tell the story about the need for a larger convention center and new stadium in Indianapolis, but the question remains: Is it fact or fiction? Even as proponents work to sell lawmakers on a plan to expand the Indiana Convention Center and replace the RCA Dome, some skeptics aren’t sold on all the information used to make the case. “There are a lot of questions [decision makers] ought to be asking,” said Rick Eckstein, a Villanova University…

Sale of parent company brings local agency growth: Roman Brand nets record billings year after buyout

Fourteen months after parting from Bates USA, Roman Brand Group is growing quickly. With its new name and a pledge from its new parent company to give the local firm more control, the advertising agency increased revenue 15 percent and added 17 new clients in 2004. Roman Brand CEO Dan Roman projects similar growth in 2005 as a wholly owned subsidiary of London-based WPP Group and its U.S. advertising agency J. Walter Thompson. WPP Group bought Bates’ former parent company,…

SPORTS: Old-timers lace ’em up for big game in Miami

MIAMI-As individuals, we are a psychiatrist, a dentist, a college fund-raiser, a couple of small-businessmen, a couple of distributors of adult beverages, and one old and mostly broken-down sportswriter. But, collectively, we are a basketball team, wearing the uniforms of the Indiana Pacers, our names sewn on the backs; receiving first-class coaching and instruction; practicing on the floor of Conseco Fieldhouse; road-tripping to Miami; staying in premium digs; having team meals; getting pregame inspiration from none other than Pacers coaching…

Growing groups carry clout: Successful physician organizations drive deals for new health care facilities

Indiana’s largest group of cardiologists was almost ready a few years ago to build its own specialty hospital in partnership with an out-of-town chain. The Care Group LLC had entered deep discussions with North Carolina-based MedCath Corp. to create a potent duo in a profitable field. The doctors told St. Vincent Health, which depended on them for cardiology expertise, “at the 11th hour” of their plans, said Dr. Skip Hallam, a cardiologist and Care Group CEO. “They stepped up to…

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Convention centers as economic development

It was more than 50 years ago that suburban growth began to explode and central cities haven’t been the same since. Businesses have gradually followed new housing and population growth out to the fringes of one urban area after another over the decades, to the detriment of many a downtown. The trend continues unabated and the central business districts in some large and medium-size cities have yet to recover. Their vibrant, dominant role in economic activity is just a memory,…

Failed deals raise questions: Standard Management calls off two health services acquisitions, delaying strategic shift

Standard Management Corp. lost a large chunk of potential revenue and raised more questions about its future when it recently revealed the end of deals to buy two health services companies. The deals’ collapse stifles attempts, at least for now, to shift the company’s business focus from life insurance to providing medical services. And it’s caught the attention of regulators who are giving the company a close look. The India n a p o l i s holding company stated…

Area deals reach new pinnacle: Anthem’s $22.7 billion purchase of Wellpoint heads busy year for acquisitions

In 2004, Indianapolis had plenty of both, crushing all previous local merger-andacquisition records. IBJ tracks business deals larger than $5 million involving area companies in which financial terms are available. Last year, there were 56 of them, worth a grand total of $31 billion. Anthem Inc.’s massive $22.7 billion acquisition of Wellpoint Health Networks Inc. led the pack. Before 2004, $17 billion was the most M&A activity Indianapolis had ever seen in a single year. All by itself, Anthem’s deal…

BULLS & BEARS: Another three-peat past should mean better times

In my July 26 column, I speculated whether investors would suffer a threepeat in 2004 of negative five-year returns in the stock market. I pointed out that the five-year stretches that ended in 2002 and 2003 were losers and, unless the stock market had a great second half, 2004 likely would mark another losing period. Returns for the Standard & Poor’s 500 have been monitored and recorded for posterity since 1928. In those 76 years, there have been 73 five-year…

Partners bet on Capitol block: Shiel Sexton teams up with Gregory & Appel to redevelop old factory

An Indianapolis contracting company is deepening its near-north-side roots-and exploring another avenue of the real estate business-with a multimillion-dollar plan to renovate and rent out an 85-year-old building just blocks from its Capitol Avenue headquarters. Shiel Sexton Co. Inc. has agreed to spend more than $5 million on the 60,000-square-foot brick building at 1402 N. Capitol Ave., restoring the property to its former glory and transforming it from industrial to office use. The company also is seeking tenants for a…

New plan, player for tower: Facing deadline, developer hopes design shift lures buyers

Developers struggling to meet the pre-sale threshold for high-rise condos on the Market Square Arena site have tapped a Chicago firm to formulate a more marketable mix for the first phase. Mesa Development LLC is working with the team on a fee basis, said Terry Parrott, manager of Market Square Partners, which was chosen nearly a year ago to build twin 29-story, 225-unit condominium towers and 175,000 square feet of retail space on the four-acre site formerly occupied by Market…

CHRIS KATTERJOHN Commentary: Help celebrate our 25th year

You, too, can be published in IBJ. As part of our 25th anniversary celebration, we’re inviting readers to submit their thoughts on how Indianapolis has changed over the last 25 years. The best-written and most compelling submission will be included in our IBJ silver anniversary commemorative publication, enclosed for subscribers with their April 25 issue. Here are the details: Keep your essay between 500 and 800 words, and send it to us at essay@ibj.com. Or log on to www.ibj.com, and…

BEHIND THE NEWS: Stay tuned: Gregg sale may be prelude to IPO

Out-of-towners are charging into Indianapolis to scoop up another one of our marquee companies. It’s an oft-told story, but this time it might just have a happy ending. Finance experts say Los Angelesbased investment firm Freeman Spogli & Co.’s purchase of an 80-percent stake in H.H. Gregg may position the electronics-and-appliance chain to grow faster than if it remained a familyowned company. Under the deal, veteran investment banker Robert Shortle said, “You still have the company headquartered here, the vast…

Wild over wilderness: Alaska conservation effort keeps Galyan’s founder busy

But Galyan’s name still carries weight like one of his old store’s GoLite Gust backpacks. Galyan-thesalesman-turned-fund-raiser managed to attract 30 outdoorsmen last week to dine in a bistro that carved vegetables into unmanly shapes. Then he convinced them to fork over cash to help protect 40 million acres of land-in southwest Alaska. “I’m Pat Galyan, of former Galyan’s fame,” he told an audience that ranged from the CEO of a window company to a top-dog lawyer who told his tablemates…

RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: Testing is secret to worthwhile Web site tinkering

I’ve just been reading yet another article giving advice for building commercial Web sites. It’s by a recognized authority named Saul Carliner, at Boxes and Arrows (www.boxesandarrows.com), itself a pretty venerable site for Web-site builders. The article draws parallels between brick-and-mortar retail stores and Web sites. For example, Carliner recommends that your site give some personal customer attention, because that’s how retailers like Nordstrom have become so successful. Store success, Web success. The implication is simple. Except that it’s not….

A business decision: Appointee: Finances, not tax woes, led to reconsideration

Harold Calloway said his sudden decision last week to decline his appointment as Indiana’s next insurance commissioner boiled down to a reluctance to leave the business he built from scratch. His change of heart had nothing to do with several state-income-tax warrants filed against him and his wife, Frankye, according to Calloway. All the warrants have been satisfied or paid, according to state records. Gov. Mitch Daniels announced late last month that he had picked Calloway, 58, to become the…

EYE ON THE PIE: Airline and transit service linked

“So, what do you think about our new governor?” State Rep. Roberta Righteous asked as we met for breakfast. “No comment,” I said, studying the menu. “Until we have his financial program on the table and a chance to think about it, any judgments are premature.” “But he’s already set a tone,” the longterm representative replied. “Other than an injudicious inaugural reference to barn-building in an overwhelmingly urban state, there’s nothing to commend or condemn. The administrative changes he has…

Indy heart care offerings expand once again: St. Francis polishes cardiac and vascular center

Furniture movers and technology testers have taken center stage as St. Francis Hospital and Health Centers prepares to become the latest Indianapolis provider to flex its cardiac care muscle. On March 1, St. Francis will accept the first patient for a $70 million Cardiac Vascular Care Center addition to its south campus. The new center will include an operating room with the latest electronic connections to patient information among other selling points. One item it won’t provide is a conclusive…

Terminal move might spur land rush: Midfield project to free choice real estate

Overshadowed by the $974 million midfield terminal project is a potential economic development bonanza: the reuse of the existing terminal and surrounding land at Indianapolis International Airport. More than 120 acres along Interstate 465 that today hold parked cars might someday house hotels, shipping operations or even a light-rail station after the midfield terminal opens in about three years. Another 54 acres representing the terminal and its immediate surroundings will be available for aviation uses from air freight to corporate…

Incubator shakeup puts prez under fire: Rose-Hulman Ventures in turmoil after resignations

But outside his camp, others at Rose-Hulman are calling for Midgley’s scalp. They fear the man who replaced Samuel Hulbert in July is another George Armstrong Custer. A pair of sudden resignations at nationally renowned business incubator Rose-Hulman Ventures provoked the skirmish that now threatens to become an all-out assault on Midgley’s leadership. “We cannot trust him,” said a Rose-Hulman dean who spoke on condition of anonymity. “This is by far not the only time I have felt this way,…