Articles

BEHIND THE NEWS: Obstacles facing Marsh cast questions over Atlas project

Marsh Supermarkets Inc. ended rampant speculation when it announced last September that it was buying the former Atlas grocery site at 54th Street and College Avenue and would build an Arthur’s Fresh Market there. Or did it? Nearly a year after Marsh officials unveiled their plans, the former Atlas building slated for demolition remains standing, surrounded by a chain-link security fence. “We were pretty sure construction would have started by now,” said James Garrettson, president of the Meridian Kessler Neighborhood…

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Adidas sale could bring changes to former Reebok facility: German sports giant has a history of using overseas manufacturing sites

Adidas’ plan to buy Massachusettsbased Reebok International Inc. for $3.8 billion has put the future of Reebok’s eastside manufacturing plant in doubt again. Though Reebok officials insist the immediate future is secure for the 600,000-square-foot operation off Post Road, industry experts say changes are on the way. Reebok took ownership of the facility in 2001 when it bought Indianapolis-based licensed apparel maker Logo Athletic out of bankruptcy court. Since then, Reebok has invested heavily and expanded local staff from 400…

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State bundles media buying: Firms here question whether small Fort Wayne-based agency can handle $10M contract

In a move that has rankled some central Indiana advertising agencies, Gov. Mitch Daniels’ office this month awarded a $10 million-$12 million media buying contract encompassing all state agencies to Fort Wayne-based Asher Agency. Asher in turn promised to save the state $900,000 in the coming year. The contract, a one-year deal with a oneyear renewal option, calls for Asher to place television, radio, print and outdoor advertising for the Hoosier Lottery, Indiana State Fair, Indiana Criminal Justice Institute, Office…

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SPORTS: Tiller rescued Purdue but isn’t immune to critics

This year the NCAA mandated that Division I-A football media guides be reduced to a uniform 212 pages. Keep in mind that these fonts of information intended for inkstained wretches had morphed into voluminous pitch-tools for recruits and brag books for boosters. The cutback didn’t prevent Purdue’s sports information office from devoting a copious 11 pages of copy in its 2005 guide to Joltin’ Joe Tiller. Perhaps I (or you, dear reader) should read nothing more into that other than…

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Eli Lilly spawns start-up: Maaguzi plans rapid growth selling software to manage clinical research trials

Eli Lilly and Co. has sold clinical-research software it created to a veteran Indianapolis entrepreneur who plans to market it globally, potentially growing his startup company into one of the area’s largest technology firms. Joe Huffine, best known as co-founder of the technology consultancy Onex Inc., said his new firm, Maaguzi LLC, should benefit as the market for research software grows explosively. Maaguzi’s software allows researchers and patients to record data electronically instead of on paper. The software is geared…

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State firms pioneers in boosting electric efficiency:

Indiana already has a number of firms working on technology aimed at boosting energy efficiency and capacity. Early this month, Indianapolis-based Trexco LLC said the U.S. Patent Office awarded it two dozen patents for a cooling system it has developed for large electrical transformers, such as those used at utility substations. The “transformer extender” is designed to stretch the capacity and lifespan of the transformers, which typically cost $2 million to $5 million and are the size of a Mack…

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New names shake up radio market ratings: Hank and Jack see gains; WFMS and WFBQ lose ground

Two radio newcomers known as Hank and Jack are two-stepping and fist-pumping their way up the local radio ratings ladder. Meanwhile, stalwarts WFMS-FM 95.5 and WFBQ-FM 94.7 have found their grips on the top rungs loosening. The first major reshuffling in local radio station ratings in nearly a decade is having wide-ranging effects on advertising demand and rates. The release of New York-based Arbitron Inc.’s spring rating book July 29 touched off a flurry of debate about who won and…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Growth of GDP better than might first appear

What happens when the world’s largest economy continues to grow at a faster rate than that of any other industrialized nation? The answer is, a tremendous amount of wealth is created. That’s the real reason investment dollars and boatloads of consumer goods continue to land on our shores from abroad every day. Compared to the tepid growth in the rest of the other mature economies around the globe, we are still the best game to be found. That’s a more…

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SPORTS: Before the first kickoff, all is well on IU gridiron

C H I C AG O – Almost a year ago in this space, I wrote about IU’s then-new athletic director, Rick Greenspan, observing that his arrival coincided with the beginning of football season, which would allow him to be immediately confronted with the Athletic Department’s most pressing and obvious problem. Under Gerry DiNardo, an uninspired choice to begin with, Hoosier football was continuing its mired-in-the-muck ways, hopelessly spinning its wheels. Horrible as a game coach and even worse in…

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Haverstick lands DWD’s controversial IT contract: Original award to India-based Tata was election issue

Last year, it was the contract that helped turn the gubernatorial election. Now, it’s a nice piece of business for Carmel-based Haverstick Government Solutions. When Indiana awarded a multimilliondollar project to an India-based information-technology developer, Gov. Joe Kernan, a Democrat, endured intense criticism. By November, Kernan had canceled the agreement with Bombay-based Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. He also introduced “Opportunity Indiana,” an initiative for government-procurement reform. But the political damage had already been done. Republican Mitch Daniels triumphed at the…

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Co-owner gives golf course a woman’s touch: Multiple tees and restrooms make the Purgatory Club in Noblesville one of the best in the country for females

Purgatory isn’t just for women. Purgatory Golf Club in Noblesville, that is. True, you can buy pink hooded sweatshirts, pink-and-white golf shoes and scented candles in the Pro Shop. And one night a month is designated Ladies Night, where women can play a round of golf, enjoy food and wine and win prizes. But don’t be fooled. Purgatory isn’t some cookie-cutter golf course. When played from the back tees, it’s one of the longest courses east of the Mississippi-nearly 7,800…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Hoosiers are wallflowers as housing party rocks on

Have you heard about the wild party that’s going on? It’s not one of those parties with wine, women and song. It’s all about buying and selling, and making lots of money. And, for some Americans, at least, it’s being done from the comfort of their own homes. It’s called the housing market, and in some corners of the country, it’s a rowdy affair. In coastal California and Florida, the price of homes is going up so fast it is…

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TAWN PARENT Commentary: It takes a village to save a marriage

Divorce is a costly proposition-for families, for the courts, for business and for society. And it’s especially costly in Indianapolis. We have more divorced residents than any other major Midwestern city, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. As a result, companies suffer. Nationally, divorce costs companies an estimated $11 billion a year, according to the Sherman Oaks, Calif.-based Grief Recovery Institute, an educational foundation. Employees going through a divorce typically are confronting emotional, financial and legal challenges. In surveys of…

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Riverview Hospital opens health care, fitness center:

Riverview Hospital opened a Health Care Pavilion July 5 at 146th Street and Hazel Dell Parkway. The 15,000-square-foot facility is the first building to open in the new $5.2 million health and fitness complex. The pavilion will be home to Hazel Dell Family and Immediate Care, as well as several physicians specializing in such areas as women’s health, preventive medicine and sports medicine. The second building in the complex, the Riverview Health and Fitness Center, is slated to open in…

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City planners seek ways to replace PRI convention: Annual event was big money maker each December

Indianapolis hospitality leaders have launched a campaign to make up for the loss of a huge racing industry convention that is taking a hiatus from the city for the next half-decade. The Performance Racing Industry, or PRI, trade show has been a major event for the Indianapolis’ convention business for seven years, annually bringing up to 40,000 visitors to the city who spend more than $26.7 million. This event was especially valued because it typically took place in early December,…

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Solheim fills LPGA marketing cup: Sold-out international event at Crooked Stick set to be anchor of new advertising campaign

With unprecedented growth in Solheim Cup ticket and sponsorship sales, the LPGA is preparing to use the September event at Crooked Stick Golf Club as a cornerstone for its new, racier marketing campaign. The LPGA, working with the Indiana Sports Corp., quickly sold out the event earlier this year and expects more than 150,000 people to come through the turnstiles for the three days of practice and three days of competition for the international women’s golf event. “We had so…

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University Place getting major makeover: New owner IUPUI investing $13M in renovation of 18-year-old hotel

A hotel built during an era in which Indianapolis first laid claim to its title of Amateur Sports Capital of the World has a new owner that is spending millions of dollars to bring the structure into the new century. University Place Conference Center & Hotel, on the campus of IUPUI, opened amid the fanfare of the Pan American Games hosted by Indianapolis in 1987. Nearly 4,500 athletes from 38 countries converged on downtown, including a throng of media that…

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SPORTS: A history lesson for 21st century stadium critics

It is Oct. 20, 1971. I am standing near Market and Alabama streets, where the groundbreaking has taken place for a venue to be called Market Square Arena. The price tag is a salty $23 million, and the project has attracted critics and naysayers who wonder about the city’s priorities, especially since our mayor, Richard Lugar, is using federal revenuesharing funds to help pay for the arena. Plus, Lugar has this wacky idea about using the arena as a catalyst…

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Radio Disney catching the ears of youth-and advertisers: Event marketing key to getting local kids to tune in

Two years after its launch, Radio Disney’s local WRZD-FM 98.3 affiliate is outperforming many affiliates in the 55-station network, even though traditional measures of its success are anything but magical. WRZD’s rating by New York-based Arbitron Inc., the industry’s standard media research firm, shows the station barely cracking the top 20 in this market. But WRZD has prospered through another number: listener calls per day. The station averages an eye-popping 4,070 calls a day, according to officials at Radio Disney’s…

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NOTIONS: Pugilism, Parkinson’s, politics, DNA: a powerful combination set to win

If you knew only that Scott Newman is a former prosecutor, you might think his new workouts apt. The man known for courtroom sparring now feints, weaves, jabs and thrusts with a former Golden Gloves boxing champion. But that’s not all we know about the 44-year-old Republican twice elected Marion County prosecutor. For in 2002, Newman also became Indianapolis’ most public Parkinson’s patient. Today, Newman says boxing provides the perfect exercise for the neurologically challenged. “Parkinson’s is a movement disease,”…

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