Newsstand could be history
The owners of Delaware News Co., one of the city’s last remaining old-school newsstands, are getting out of the business after more than a dozen years. Phil…
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City doles out incentives to Defender Direct:
The city plans to designate part of an office park near 96th Street and Keystone Avenue as an “economic revitalization area” to provide tax abatements for a local company that sells ADT security systems and Dish Network subscriptions. The company, Defender Security Co., has pledged to more than triple its Indiana work force-adding more than 1,100 new jobs-over the next 10 years. The state offered the company up to $6 million in tax credits and $345,000 in training grants to…
Browning eyes airport land
Browning Investments is contemplating developing a business park just north of Indianapolis International Airport in what
would be the largest development to date in the so-called Minnesota Street corridor.
Rug dealers’ going-out-of-business sales aren’t always what they seem
Phony going-out-of-business sales long have plagued Oriental rug retailing here and across the country, dealers say. The industry
is susceptible because Oriental rugs can cost thousands of dollars, and many consumers lack the expertise to judge whether
a rug’s quality matches its price.
Penn Centre delayed but not dead
Construction won’t begin on the ambitious Penn Centre proposal for at least a few more months, but the project still is a go, said developer J. Greg Allen, who also…
Payton Wells auction set
An auction date has been set for three parcels near Meridian and 16th streets that housed the Payton Wells car dealership. The properties are 2.5 acres with a 50,000-square-foot…
Fabric, French food and fillings
Today’s collection of retail and restaurant nuggets are brought to you by the letter F.
Eastside institution closing
Circle Fabric, a staple at 30th Street and Shadeland Avenue for more…
BW3 returning to downtown
Buffalo Wild Wings hopes to be back downtown by summer. The restaurant chain plans to take about 6,800 square feet next door to Borders at the southeast corner of Meridian…
Airport may pay $8.8 million for hotel: Deal pending; Westin won’t open until at least 2009
The Indianapolis Airport Authority board this month approved spending up to $8.8 million to help fund construction of a hotel connected to the midfield terminal set to debut Oct. 28. But delays in finalizing a deal with developer Mansur Real Estate Services means the $50-million-plus Westin will not be ready for guests until August 2009 at the earliest. The airport board picked Indianapolis-based Mansur to build the hotel nearly a year ago. “We’re still talking about what it’s going to…
Office tower bounces back: Renovated National City Center recovering from loss of Simon
Once reeling from the loss of its largest tenant, National City Center now has a rising occupancy rate amid a major renovation that is resuscitating the aging office building. Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group Inc. vacated 182,000 square feet in National City Center by moving to its new headquarters a block away in the fall of 2006. The departure left the 16-story tower at the southwest corner of Washington and Illinois streets 28-percent unoccupied after years of being nearly full. Owner…
Housing slump puts Gramercy project in Carmel on hold:
The deteriorating housing market and Carmel’s plans to build more roundabouts have led The Buckingham Cos. to put the brakes on its ambitious Gramercy development project. The $500 million project set to begin in the spring now has no timetable. But when construction ultimately commences, it likely will begin with the commercial and retail portions rather than the home-building portion, as was originally planned, said Clyde Lee, a spokesman for the local developer. “They have revised the plans,” Lee said….
BEHIND THE NEWS: How a smart businessman invested his way into prison
In 1994, Indianapolis real estate entrepreneur Mark Ristow read some investment advice that changed his life. In the book “Beating the Street,” Peter Lynch, the former star mutual fund manager, described a “can’t lose proposition (almost)” called bank-conversion investing. The game: Buying stock in mutual, depositor-owned banks when they convert into public companies. Depositors get in at the initial-public-offering price, often a discount. So “the next time you pass a mutual savings bank or an S&L that’s still cooperatively owned,”…
Right time for REITs?: Some predict beaten-down sector is ready for another winning streak
For seven years, real estate investment trusts delivered returns that clobbered the overall stock market. Then, last year, the winning streak came to an end. Between January 2007 and January 2008, REITs as a whole lost 24 percent of their value. An index of the companies took a bigger hit than most every other sector. Among local REITs, Duke Realty Corp. was the hardest hit, with its stock price falling 44 percent, from about $41 to $23, during the one-year…
Kite lands in hot retail spot
Another high-profile local developer is making a move to capitalize on the city’s hottest retail corridor, joining mall giant
Simon Property Group Inc. and upstart Premier Properties USA Inc. Kite Realty Group Trust paid $18.3 million for Rivers Edge
shopping center, a 111,000-square-foot property just east of Clearwater Crossing.
VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Protestors shouldn’t control community development
N e i g h b o r h o o d activists in Pittsburgh are fighting a development that would bring a grocery store, job training center, youth programs and other social services to the area of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ $290 million arena. The Pittsburgh group was planning a march in protest. Is retail and commercial development next to a sports arena a bad idea? A Cambridge, Mass., neighborhood group was opposed to the development of three townhomes, arguing…
What’s old is new again
On this nasty Friday, I’ve got a few updates on previous posts. Hope everyone has a nice weekend. Here goes:
What was Flagstar thinking?
Flagstar Bank has added yet…
Circle Centre anchor struggles
The parent company of Circle Centre Mall anchor Carson Pirie Scott has joined a growing list of retailers struggling to stay afloat after disappointing fourth-quarter sales. About half…
Is mall’s sign a billboard?
The city waived several zoning requirements in allowing Simon Property Group to install a giant electronic sign at the entrance to Castleton Square Mall. The electronic portion of…
Latest real estate headlines
It’s a busy week for real estate news. Here are a few headlines:
Circuit City closes Clay Terrace store
Carmel’s high-end lifestyle center Clay Terrace has an empty big box. Virginia-based Circuit…
Affordable housing…again
Indianapolis is now the most affordable large market in which to buy a house 10 quarters running.
Thatâ??s according to an index the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo put out this afternoon.
In the past quarter, 46.6 percent…