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Merry Realty Inc.: Big plans for small firm Real estate agency tries to win business by teaching buyers rules of the game

Real estate agency tries to win business by teaching buyers rules of the game Large agencies may dominate the residential real estate game, but Indianapolis-based Merry Realty is trying to prove a small player still can make a big name for itself. For years, Merry Realty has focused its efforts on properties in Indianapolis, but it is rapidly expanding into a more diverse market, targeting booming areas like Hamilton County while staying loyal to its inner-city roots. Real estate broker…

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Incentives no help if hard to use, developers say: Program used on northwest side can be too much of a good thing

A year and a half ago, Indianapolis officials announced an incentive program designed to lure businesses to the vacancy-plagued commercial area surrounding Lafayette Square Mall on the northwest side. To date, just one developer has taken advantage of the community revitalization and enhancement district, or CRED, and its project was in the works before the program began. The developer built a movie theater and grocery store in a former Cub Foods near 38th Street and Lafayette Road. Smaller developers may…

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BULLS & BEARS: Problems look daunting? A lesson from Granddad

Granddad rocked back and said, “The news is pretty tough to read these days. Makes me want to sit on the porch and just watch the leaves turn.” He shook his head and mentioned all sorts of events that made him wonder if the United States could ever bounce back. First, he brought up the battles for control in the Gaza strip and the fierce fighting over Palestinian areas. Then came speculation on how the United States was going to…

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Museum deemed Monumental: Expansion project earns two design firms top award

Indianapolis-based firms Fink Roberts & Petrie Inc. and Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf Architects won the Monumental Award for their work on the Indianapolis Museum of Art expansion project. The 28th annual A Monumental Affair was set to take place Nov. 3 at the Indiana Roof Ballroom. The awards recognize excellence among those who have contributed to the enhancement and beautification of Marion County through the built and natural environment. Local non-profit organization Keep Indianapolis Beautiful Inc. leads the Monumental Affair…

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Public markets are sometimes a double-edged sword: Many companies enjoy access to capital, but others complain regulatory compliance costs are just too high

For young and growing companies, initial public offerings are a bit like climbing a mountain: a long, harsh toil to reach a distant summit. But planting a flag at the peak isn’t enough. To make the journey worthwhile, companies must stay there. The payoff can be enormous, in the form of ready access to capital. But operating at such a high altitude requires careful footing. And the effort costs more than some can afford. “It’s a double-edged sword,” said George…

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INVESTING: Don’t be so diversified that you miss the next big thing

Your portfolio is getting thumped lately, but at least you’re taking solace in the fact you bought a few energy stocks over the summer. You feel you have followed the prudent course of advisers everywhere and diversified enough to stay out of trouble. Think again! This is not garden-variety correction, and what we are seeing is just a warm-up for what’s to come. Conventional wisdom from advisers is that you can’t time the market, so don’t try. Instead, spread your…

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Indiana taps Meridian to handle surplus land: Second call put out for firms to oversee leasing

The state of Indiana has taken a first step in overhauling how it manages its real estate by selecting a local firm to sell surplus property. Meridian Asset Development was notified Oct. 12 of the state’s intent to award it a contract to manage the sale of potentially hundreds of acres of land the state owns. A contract could be in place within two weeks, pending negotiations over the exact terms, said Kevin Ober, deputy commissioner for the Indiana Department…

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BEHIND THE NEWS: Ex-exec cuts guilty plea; Brightpoint says it’s not a target

One of two former Brightpoint Inc. employees charged this month in an accounting scandal has agreed to plead guilty in return for receiving a prison sentence of no more than 18 months. John Delaney, 40, former chief accounting officer of the wireless phone wholesaler, could end up spending far less time behind bars. In his nine-page plea agreement filed in federal court in Indianapolis, the U.S. Attorney’s Office says it will argue for a lesser sentence. Delaney on Oct. 13…

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Kipps Brothers still evolving after 125 years

Walk through the Kipp Brothers showroom and you’ll find the makings of one heck of a birthday celebration: gag gifts galore, endless sugary treats and headgear that puts the traditional party hat to shame.

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Lee, Willis prosper outside limelight: Former WRTV co-anchors run growing public relations firm

News defined the careers of Clyde Lee and Diane Willis for a combined five decades. And it was the nation’s biggest news event of the last decade-9/11-that served as an ominous backdrop for the duo’s first entrepreneurial venture. “We incorporated in August 2001, and less than a month later, 9/11 hit, and we thought, ‘Oh my,'” Lee recalled. But more than four years later, Lee/Willis Communications is still standing-and prospering. The fiscal swoon that followed 9/11 caused many companies to…

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TOM HARTON Commentary: Luring people with bricks, mortar

A parking garage is about to rise on a vacant lot at 120 E. Washington St. It’s ironic that a block or so west of the site, a group of architects, city planners, real estate developers and leaders of the city’s arts movement meet on a regular basis to plot against such garages. The garage in the works isn’t just any garage. In its current design, which is yet to be approved, it’s only a garage. No ground-floor retail. Just…

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Tenacious spirit pays off for top real estate agent: With $45 million in 2005 home sales, Bif Ward just doesn’t give up when it comes to serving clients

Bif Ward has racked up some impressive numbers during her 26 years in residential real estate, and many think that’s because she caters exclusively to A-list clientele with pricey properties to buy and sell. But Ward is smart enough to know that brokering only for corporate bigwigs and local celebrities would get her nowhere fast, especially in a town where the average home price is just over $162,000. “All these expensive listings-if that’s all I did, I’d be broke,” said…

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Coastal is in the name, central Indiana is its game: California-based firm cultivating its local operations

Despite its name, Coastal Partners LLC is firmly entrenched in the heartland. Most of its current projects are in central Indiana, as are about half its employees. In August, the Sacramento-based firm hired Tom Ott to oversee its central Indiana operations and new development. Ott, a respected 10-year veteran of the local office of Los Angeles-based CB Richard Ellis, plans to continue his relationships in the local brokerage community to further Coastal Partners’ presence in the area. Although the name…

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South-side exit finally sparking development: Wal-Mart might by key to I-65/County Line interchange meeting expectations

An interchange linking Interstate 65 and County Line Road completed six years ago is finally helping attract large commercial development to a busy Johnson County corridor. While Greenwood city officials are pleased by the amount of activity occurring there, they question why it took so long. “We thought it would take off much sooner than it did,” said Ed Ferguson, Greenwood’s director of planning, zoning and economic development. “We still have several hundred acres available in what we call the…

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Apartment industry embracing Ball State graduates: Program makes property management a career goal

During the 1990s, a booming Indianapolis apartment market was becoming increasingly competitive. About 10,000 units were added to the market in the second half of the decade and professional, well-educated managers to run them were in short supply. Enter the Apartment Association of Indiana, which figured the best way to find the professionals apartment owners needed was to grow their own, so to speak, by creating a post-secondary education degree program for the industry. At that time, Virginia Tech was…

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Bye-bye blight?: Developers grabbing parcels east of Circle Centre mall

Several groups are floating plans and crunching numbers for downtown hotel or condo projects east of Circle Centre mall, an area that has been largely passed over for new developments in recent years. One of the more imminent projects is a large mixed-use development for the quarter-block at Maryland and Pennsylvania streets, now occupied by surface parking lots and a 9,000-squarefoot office building. A group that includes local developer J. Greg Allen has four separate parcels at the corner under…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Bubble won’t burst on commercial real estate investors

Winding down his remarkable tenure as chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan seems to have chosen “real estate bubble” as one of the themes of his swan song. And with housing prices in some cities soaring, the rest of us as mere mortals can reasonably wonder how long it will be before the bubble bursts and what will be the fallout if and when that happens. Many private equity investors with holdings in commercial real estate are beginning to…

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Browning launching $10 million equity fund: Firm seeking investors for local industrial properties

After 28 years in the real estate development business, Browning Investments Inc. is inviting investors to take a cut of some of its deals. The locally based firm plans to launch a private investment fund to buy properties, mostly central Indiana industrial buildings. Browning officials are working on raising $10 million in equity for a fund that will leverage debt to acquire $30 million to $40 million in properties. They hope the fund will be the first of several. The…

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Herron-Morton planning grows beyond art campus: Foundation hopes to redevelop 3 nearby buildings

Members of Herron-Morton Place Foundation Inc. are ecstatic that city planners chose their proposal to rehabilitate three vacant buildings as part of a larger redevelopment of the former Herron School of Art campus. The dilapidated structures, known as the Foundry buildings, are a block east of the campus. Under the foundation’s plan, they will be transformed into retail shops and should benefit from the foot traffic generated by the revitalization of the Herron property on 16th Street. But now comes…

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BEHIND THE NEWS: Is exec a fraud or just bad at business? A jury will decide

Forget Disneyworld. The real excitement in Orlando, Fla., this fall likely will be in a federal courtroom, where Carmel native James T. O’Neal Jr. is scheduled to stand trial on charges he swindled millions of dollars from the rich and famous, including high-profile Indianapolis businesspeople. A federal grand jury indicted O’Neal a year ago on 82 felony counts of money laundering, mail fraud and filing false tax returns. If the 12-person jury finds the 60-year-old Orlando resident guilty, he could…

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