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University Loft finds growing niche in hospitality industry: Indianapolis-based furniture manufacturer known for college products sees big potential in hotel segment

The University Loft Co.’s graduation from dormitory to hotel-furniture maker is beginning to show promise. While the Indianapolis-based manufacturer’s bread and butter remains campus furnishings, its decision to enter the hospitality market in 2003 has CEO James Jannetides thinking big-as in presidentialsuite big. In four years, the ULC Hospitality division has grown to account for nearly 10 percent of the company’s $100 million annual revenue. Jannetides, though, envisions the branch’s eventually contributing half in his quest to someday make ULC…

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Colts seize Super moment for marketing

With a season-ticket waiting list of more than 13,000–and growing by the hour–the Indianapolis Colts marketing team can
settle into cruise control, right? Owner Jim Irsay thinks not.

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Super Bowl bid team more confident after visit to Miami: Civic leaders gathered useful info on ‘terrific’ trip

No more. In Miami, the daunting requirements for hosting the game began to make more sense. The city’s strengths came into focus. Extensive tours of the stadium, media center, team hotels and practice facilities, along with hours of meetings with NFL brass and officials with other host cities, left the contingent feeling Indianapolis is ready for a Super Bowl. The group hopes to raise $25 million in private funds to host the game in 2011. “It was a terrific trip…

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TO DO LIST: BUTLER BASKETBALL: All together now: ‘Let’s go Bulldogs, let’s go!’

TO DO LIST BUTLER BASKETBALL All together now: ‘Let’s go Bulldogs, let’s go!’ Looking for a way to satisfy your sports jones now that football season’s over? Check out Indianapolis’ other team-the Butler Bulldogs-at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse. The nationally ranked basketball squad is at its prime, and taking in a home game is an entertaining reminder of the good old days when college athletes played their hearts out for four years and communities came out in force to rally ’round…

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SPORTS: Super Bowl has special meaning for diversity watchdog

As this is being written, it is uncertain which head coach will grasp the Lombardi Trophy. Those of us here certainly hope it is the Indianapolis Colts’ Tony Dungy. If not, however, Floyd Keith of the Indianapolis-based Black Coaches Association still can’t lose. Because the trophy then would be in the hands of the Chicago Bears’ Lovie Smith. As most of the world knows by now, Super Bowl XLI in Miami was going to be historic even before the opening…

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CHRIS KATTERJOHN Commentary: It’s déjà vu all over again

CHRIS KATTERJOHN Commentary It’s déjà vu all over again Every once in a while, I’m struck by the same-ness of things. My last column was filed from Florida, as was last year’s second column in January. This week’s is being written upon my return from a publisher’s meeting in Puerto Vallarta, as was last year’s first February column. That’s a little scary. Is my life getting to be that predictable? Remember my passport debacle from last year? This year in…

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Architect of Colts’ success worked his way to the top

Bill Polian, the multi-sport schoolboy athlete from the Bronx, never had the advantage of an inside track. So he broke into
the National Football League the only way he knew how: by outworking and outsmarting the competition. By all accounts, Polian,
64 and now president of the Indianapolis Colts, is still at it.

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Super Bowl win not necessarily profitable

If the Indianapolis Colts win the Super Bowl Feb. 4, team owner Jim Irsay will be going deep into his pocket. Contrary to
popular belief, winning the Super Bowl is not a huge financial windfall–at least not in the near term for the team and its
owner.

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Super Bowl travel plans mix business, fun

Super Bowl XLI has become a can’t-miss event for dozens of local business executives and government honchos, who are shelling
out several thousand dollars apiece to watch the Feb. 4 game in person.

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SPORTS: Overdosing on the Colts? Enjoy it while you can

That sport, and not religion as Karl Marx once declared, has become the “opiate of the masses” is apparent in our fair burg, where we all-or at least most of us-are overdosing on the Indianapolis Colts. The TV types are in full hyper-ventilation. The scribes are cranking out words by the thousands. No angle involving the Colts and their upcoming Super Bowl date with Da Bears in Miami will go uncovered. And, yes, some of the story lines will be…

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SPORTS: AFC title game is a big event in a land of big events

There is conjecture that the hosting of the AFC Championship game between the Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots is the biggest/greatest/most significant-choose your superlative-sports-related event in the city’s history. That got me to thinking. Is it greater than the 1911 Indianapolis 500, which led to the other 88 500s that, in their current form, generate far more annual economic impact than even a Super Bowl? Is it greater than the 1946 Indianapolis 500, when Tony Hulman took ownership of…

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IMS Productions joins Web video network

IMS Productions, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s video production arm, has agreed to be one of the primary content providers
for The Venice Project, a collaboration of big-name Internet entrepreneurs intent on shaking up the television industry by
launching a 30-plus-channel, TV-like network online.

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FUNNY BUSINESS: Forget Elvis on velvet; Art Bullies have other plans

I’ve seen the picture of the proposed ginormous art installation for downtown, and I think I speak for many of us when I say … Well, come to think of it, I better not say that, seeing as how many of us do not use that kind of language. In case you missed it, here’s the deal: There’s a movement afoot to erect a large, circular, steel, Dairy Queen curlicue over at 11th and West streets-a $10 million large, circular,…

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SPORTS: Nice Colts fans? That’s OK-if they’re loyal to team

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been interviewed by reporters from both the Kansas City Star and the Baltimore Sun. Both were pursuing the same angle: Indianapolis as a pro football town vis a vis Kansas City and Baltimore, and support for the notion that our citizenry in general and Colts fans in particular are “just too darn nice.” My response to both was, well, yes, our folks and fans are nice, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing…

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SPORTS: Predictions-and wishes-for sports in 2007

Last week, I reviewed the ups and downs of Indy sports in 2006. Here’s a look at what might transpire this year. I hope the Indianapolis Colts make it to the Super Bowl. I want to see this not so much for the city and Colts fans-although it would be great for both-but because I want to see Colts coach Tony Dungy recognized for the fine man he is without that “can’t win the big one” asterisk (same goes for…

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Labor sector diversification could spur local economy: $200,000 study targets finance, retail and construction

Sexier industry sectors like life sciences or motorsports get all the press. But to remain robust, the Indianapolis Private Industry Council believes, the area economy needs diversification. The 23-year-old work-force-training not-for-profit believes the nine-county area also should target three tried-and-true industries: finance and insurance; retail, hospitality and restaurants; and construction. IPIC, whose $9 million annual budget comes from public and private grants, plans to spend $200,000 during the first quarter studying the three sectors, which collectively employ 270,000 people in…

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SPORTS: 2006 was a year of sports highs-and lows

What a mixed bag 2006 was. For every yin, there was yang. Yin: The Indianapolis Colts claimed home-field advantage in the NFL playoffs. Yang: They then lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers when mouthy M i ke Va n d e r j a g t gagged on the gametyin kick. Yin: The city hosted a simply extraordinary Final Four at the RCA Dome and welcomed to town a genuine Cinderella, George Mason. Yang: The games were one-sided, and, speaking of…

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INVESTING: No need to fret over sputtering transport stocks

Recent weakness in a major U.S. stock index has some experts and investors calling the bear out of hibernation. The Dow Jones Industrial Average probably is more closely followed than any other market indicator in the world, but the index creating the stir is the Dow Jones Transportation Index. The creator of these indicators, Charles Dow, saw them as a means to get a quick understanding of the general economic conditions in America. Today, market analysts combine the two into…

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CHRIS KATTERJOHN Commentary: IBJ has big plans for coming year

This has been a strong year for your local business weekly. We take seriously our mission of providing readers with the best, most in-depth coverage of local business, so it is with a sense of both pride and gratitude that I report on our most successful year ever. Editor Tom Harton has called 2006 the Year of the Award. This year, IBJ won 18 news awards-eight of them gold-from three different organizations. Our coverage was recognized nine times by our…

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