Struggling developer Lauth Group Inc. has cut about 90 percent of its staff and lost control of part of its portfolio to a
major equity partner-developments that raise doubts about whether the locally based company can survive the recession.
The Simon family’s role in building the city has come at a steep price for taxpayers. Simon and
its business interests in the last 20 years have collected local government incentives
worth more than $400 million, an IBJ tally of those deals shows.
Tight budgets, unsure future make moving unattractive to office-space renters.
The private Todd Academy plans to move into a historic building at the northwest corner of East and New York streets in Lockerbie
Square.
The recession, coupled with personnel shifts, have grounded the more than $50-million hotel project adjacent to the new terminal.
Macy’s decision to close its store at Lafayette Square could deal a devastating
blow to a mall already reeling from the loss of other major tenants.
A new report shows that, despite a sluggish national economy, the Indianapolis area should continue to attract industrial
businesses and distribution centers next year.
Kite Realty Group Trust has joined local peers Duke Realty Corp. and Lauth Group Inc. in laying off employees as it copes
with dried-up credit and a soft retail market.
Some of the city’s most prominent commercial real estate brokers have resigned from locally owned Meridian Real Estate to
launch an Indianapolis affiliate of Chicago-based Jones Lang LaSalle.
Aasif Bade started Ambrose Property Group with three employees this month.
Veteran office broker John Robinson, one of the founders of locally based Meridian Real Estate, has left the firm and is working
on a new venture.
Blue Real Estate, a California firm that made a bundle selling West Coast office buildings at the market’s peak, has been
buying up local buildings and trying to learn the Indianapolis market.
The new, $1.1 billion terminal at Indianapolis International Airport likely won’t house as many airport employees as the existing
facility. Instead, portions of the terminal are being set aside for their revenue-generating potential.
CEOs with Simon Property, Duke Realty Corp. and Interactive Intelligence Inc. report that their companies are taking an uncharacteristically
cautious approach to acquisitions and investments, given the faltering economy.
DBSI, an Idaho real estate firm with 250 properties worth $2 billion faces a class-action suit. Some of its properties and
investors are in Indianapolis.
A local real estate developer has emerged as a top contender to buy the 28-story M&I Plaza–potentially at half the
$50 million price the building fetched a decade ago. Paul Kite Co. confirmed it is in talks with Maryland-based
CapitalSource Inc., which took over the struggling office tower in June after foreclosing on a $5 million
mezzanine loan.
Stock markets are falling, jobs are disappearing, and the outlook for the economy seems grim. Banks, real estate developers,
retailers and manufacturers are taking the worst hits, but all types of businesses in central Indiana are hurting. From health
care to technology, education to philanthropy, every industry is trying to take the setbacks in stride.
Insurance giant Safeco Corp. is expected to either vacate or scale back its downtown operation next year–a move that could
deal a major blow to the office market. At stake are about 700 downtown jobs, some or all of which could be eliminated or
shifted to the suburbs. A final decision about the fate of Safeco’s five-building downtown office complex likely will come
after Boston-based Liberty Mutual completes its $6.2 billion acquisition of Seattle-based Safeco.
A local developer known for its strip centers has stopped building new projects, scaled back its staff, and is trying to
unload several of its properties in an apparent bid to survive. Williams Realty Group earlier this year
shuttered its custom-home-building operation, DayMarc Homes, and now observers are wondering if owners Dave
Crockett and Marc Freije can keep the rest of Williams afloat.
Construction of Pan Am Plaza in the mid-1980s was a major step in the evolution of Indianapolis into a sports town worthy
of hosting a Super Bowl. But the office building, parking garage, skating rinks and public gathering place came up short over
the years in other ways for both taxpayers and developer, the Indiana Sports Corp.
