DIG-B: Development in Indianapolis, Gear & Beer

Development: Buckingham Moving on YMCA Redevelopment

2010-06-09T13:50:00.015-04:00

The bulldozers are hard at work at 860 W. 10th St., clearing away an aging YMCA to make way for a new mixed-use development by locally-based Buckingham Co. When they were selected by the Center Township Advisory Board to redevelopment this site in December 2009, this is how Buckingham envisioned the development:

On a pass on the Clarian People Mover yesterday, I observed that the majority of the low-rise section of the YMCA had been razed, while the larger 4-story structure was still standing. The Indy Star reports that Buckingham expects the demolition to last through the end of June.

Buckingham also recently filed for a variance to their pre-approved siteplan that will be heard by the Metropolitan Development Commission Hearing Examiner tomorrow at 1pm. The variance relates to underground utilities that have been deemed cost-prohibitive to relocate. The proposed siteplan is below, and it appears to show utility lines entering the site at the NE corner of the intersection of 10th St. and Indiana Ave. (apologies about the bluriness -- this is the quality provided in the online staff report).

10th St. at bottom, Brooks St. at right, and Indiana Ave. angling off the left edge of the siteplan.
Note that the plan appears to show 13 curb-side parking spaces on 10th St.

According to the variance filing, the 5-story commercial/residential structure lining 10th St. has been shortened by 60' and the 4-story residential structure at the western edge of the site has been elongated by the same 60'. This would theoretically retain the residential capacity of the project. However, as the ground floor of the 10th St. structure is to house the commercial space, it's not immediately clear what effect this adjustment will have on that aspect of the project.

Photos: The Di Rimini Construction Update

2010-06-02T09:13:00.002-04:00

Sarojo Commons -- the working name for a low-rise student apartment building currently under construction on the southeast corner of Capitol and St. Clair -- has been renamed The Di Rimini. According to the website, every unit will be 2BR with both furnished and unfurnished options. Here are some photos of the on-going construction process:

Looking east at the Capitol Ave. frontage.

Looking east along the St. Clair St. frontage.

Detail of the ground floor stone facade.

Development: New Project Coming to Downtown Canal Walk?

2010-06-01T08:07:00.004-04:00

The Kirkbride Bible Company has operated out of a warehouse at the intersection of 9th St. and the Central Canal since 1984*. Over the last 26 years, and particularly in the last 10 or so, a lot has changed in the area immediately around that warehouse. The canal, an unkempt industrial waterway when Kirkbride first moved in, is now a lively linear urban park. Likewise, industrial structures lining the canal have given way to residential, medical research, and institutional uses, among others. The Kirkbride warehouse sticks out as an odd use on the Central Canal today, one of the last vestiges of its industrial past and one of the last great redevelopment opportunities along the Downtown Canal Walk.

According to a filing with the Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development (DMD), Kirkbride has moved on from their canal-front warehouse -- "The existing building on the site was used as a manufacturing facility and is currently vacant" -- and their 1.2 acre site* might be redeveloped as a mixed-use residential/commercial project. In the May 27th Staff Report for the DMD Hearing Examiner, there is a continued petition for 335 West 9th Street (the former address of Kirkbride) to be rezoned to CBD-2, a designation in line with other redeveloped properties fronting the canal. An image of the site from the DMD staff report:

St. Clair St. angles off the left side, while Senate Ave. angles toward the top of this image.

Embedded within the rezoning petition are many interesting details:

1. The 'Comprehensive Plan' section notes, "The site is located within the boundaries of the Regional Center Plan 2020 which recommends residential development of 27 to 49 units per acre."

Assuming this project follows the Regional Center Planning recommendations, it would include 27-49 units/acre * 1.2 acres = 32 to 59 units.

2. The 'Land Use' section adds, "Staff would suggest that grade level commercial use on the west elevation of this building be integrated into the design. The building’s design should foster an active streetscape along the canal, consistent with other canal development. The petitioner has verbally indicated that grade level commercial use is intended for this development."

It should almost go without saying that any canal-front redevelopment needs to be attentive to the canal "streetscape", but I'm glad that the staff has specifically recommended commercial uses at canal level.

3. The 'Regional Center' section of the petition reads, "Staff has verbally indicated that the proposed development would be considered a ‘High Impact’ Project in accordance with the Regional Center Urban Design Guidelines."

This designation requires a public hearing before the Regional Center Hearing Examiner, so anyone who wants to have a say in the design of this project will get their time.

4. The petition also has a May 27th staff addendum that reads, "It was anticipated that this petition would be amended to included additional property. As of this writing, this petition has not been amended, nor new notice provided. Staff understands that this petition will be continued to at least June 24, 2010."

The warehouse immediately to the south of Kirkbride, formerly the home of B.H. Gardner Co., was until recently listed for sale. The site no longer has a for sale sign so it could be assumed that the petitioners are trying to fold this property into a larger rezoning petition and redevelopment project.

Looking North from the St. Clair St. bridge over the Canal. The B.H. Gardner warehouse is the first building on the right, fronted by the black railing. The Kirkbride warehouse with a gray/brown brick front is immediately beyond the cluster of pine trees.

In closing, and just to be perfectly clear: not only does this rezoning petition not necessarily mean any redevelopment will ultimately move forward for this site, but this particular petition was continued, meaning that it was not voted upon and will be reconsidered at the next meeting of the DMD Hearing Examiner. That said, it's certainly exciting to think about another project popping up along the banks of the canal.

* Facts taken from an IBJ article about the adjacent Kirkbride and BH Gardner sites for sale, September '09.

Photos: Indianapolis Cultural Trail Glick Peace Walk

2010-04-28T13:31:00.007-04:00

Work on the Glick Peace Walk continues on the two blocks of Walnut between Capitol and Meridian. There are a total of 10 installations on these blocks, with two more to be installed downtown on the Central Corridor (directions to the other 10 will be included at these two pieces). Here's how the designers envision the walk.

And here's a peak at the on-going work for a few of the honorees.

Photos taken April 17, 2010.

Development: Lugar Tower Redevelopment Siteplan

2010-04-27T21:35:00.003-04:00

Flaherty & Collins won the rights to develop city-owned land around the base of both Barton Tower on Massachusetts Ave. and Lugar Tower on Fort Wayne Ave. in mid 2009. The Barton Tower redevelopment opportunity receives the lion's share of attention due to its strategic position in the heart of Mass Ave and because the 500 block represents a dead zone, dividing an otherwise thriving urban corridor.

The Lugar Tower proposal, fronting Fort Wayne Ave., seems to be an afterthought, though I believe it to be equally important. There's an opportunity for Fort Wayne to be a wonderful neighborhood-serving commercial street if development is planned out in a thoughtful manner. I recently came across the following siteplan for the Lugar Tower redevelopment (as always, be sure to click on the image so you can see a larger version with more detail):

A couple quick thoughts and then I'll open it up for discussion in the comments:

1. The Urban Times article linked above indicates that the redevelopment opportunity was for both the Fort Wayne side and the East St. sides of Lugar Tower. It could be that those are two different plans with two different architectural designs. It could be that East St. plans are on hold for now. Who knows.

2. I'm not a fan of two curb cuts on Fort Wayne that close together.

3. However, I am a big fan of the new curb cut for a road that places Lugar Tower on a logical street grid. In one quick design move, the placement of that tower suddenly makes sense. Lining the road with new residential units should create a great entry to the tower loading loop.

What do you think?

Development: Ivy Tech, St. Vincent Recap and Siteplan

2010-03-31T09:38:00.008-04:00

The old St. Vincent Hospital between Capitol Ave. and Illinois St. at Fall Creek Parkway potentially faced the wrecking ball in July 2008. Ivy Tech was in need of new classroom space and had deemed St. Vincent Hospital -- until 2002 a public housing project and sold to Ivy Tech for $1 in 2006 -- unsuitable for classroom conversion. They proposed razing St. Vincent and building this classroom building:

Fortunately, the Indiana Historic Landmarks Foundation quickly stepped in and put an end to that talk. St. Vincent was temporarily saved, while Ivy Tech was left in a bind, with a need for new classroom space to support a student body that continued to grow unabated.

In early 2009, a plan was floated to convert St. Vincent into student housing. The project would have provided an $18M renovation of St. Vincent and space for 250 students to live, while Ivy Tech would have turned to other land on their campus for construction of a new classroom building. Perhaps due to poor financial timing by the developers involved, that plan fizzled rather quickly, forcing Ivy Tech back to the drawing board.

By mid 2009, Ivy Tech had produced another new plan, a compromise with historical preservationists that would save the southern, Fall Creek Parkway facade of St. Vincent Hospital and construct a new building behind it (a process commonly called facadectomy). Here is a rendering of the proposal:

Facadectomy is a controversial process and the proposal lead to quite a debate around the internet. Despite the controversy, Ivy Tech is proceeding with its facadectomy plan and demolition of the building is currently underway. Thanks to Chris Barnett of the Near North Development Corporation, here is the siteplan for the future Ivy Tech building, which will feature classrooms and laboratories, as well as student services and community space:

For comparison, here is an overhead shot of the site as of 2005:

Curt at Huston Street Racing has a photo in a recent post that shows some of the demolition work currently being done on St. Vincent. Also see an earlier post here at DIG-B, showing the state of the building in August 2008 when total demolition seemed imminent.

300 Posts and a New Blog Description

2010-03-30T14:19:00.005-04:00

Looking over my blog layout yesterday, I decided it was a good time to tweak to my blog description. I ended up rewriting the whole thing:

When it comes to development projects, traditional media outlets generally tell you about three things:

Project Announcement
Groundbreaking
Grand Opening

What about all the dirty work in-between? That’s where DIG-B comes in. I attempt to follow as many projects as possible -- focusing primarily on the downtown Indianapolis area -- providing photographic updates of the construction progress.

This isn’t art -- I don’t claim to be an expert photographer and I don’t edit my photos. This is simply timestamping Indianapolis placemaking.

I've never explicitly stated that last paragraph, but that's always been my goal. Sometimes I get lucky with cool photos, but mostly I just point my camera at things, upload the photos and post them. Nothing fancy here.

Once I was done rewriting the description, I decided that it might be good to publish it along with post #300, which I knew was coming up soon. A quick tabulation showed that my timing was impeccable: yesterday's Cosmopolitan post was #299.

As always, thanks to everybody that reads and comments!

Photos: Cosmopolitan on the Canal -- The Left Bank Patio

2010-03-29T15:12:00.007-04:00

The Left Bank coffee shop -- operated by street-level neighbor Mo'Joe Coffeehouse -- will be occupying the canal-front retail space of the Cosmopolitan on the Canal. A concrete patio for canal-side outdoor seating began to be poured on Friday and The Left Bank is expected to open in early May. Here's a peak at the first stage (they have since poured more).

A cozy corner immediately north of the Indiana Historic Landmarks Foundation Headquarters.

Looking north, a view of the entire canal frontage.

The entrance for The Left Bank.

According to the leasing office, this side of the retail frontage (the northern half) is a residents social area. The Left Bank will be in the southern portion of the space, and looking through the windows, it appears that there is no strict partition (a two-sided fireplace roughly divides the space). EDIT (4/4/10): The sidewalks are done and you can now walk right up and look in the windows. There is definitely a full wall separating the Left Bank Cafe from the rest of the space. The Left Bank will only occupy about one-third of the canal-front space to boot. Very unfortunate.

Photo: Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Photo 24

2010-03-15T07:49:00.003-04:00

The North Corridor of the Cultural Trail will feature new traffic lights at the intersections of Walnut St. with Senate Ave., Capitol Ave, and Illinois St. These intersections were previously all free flowing for the streets crossing Walnut St. New street light masts have been installed at all these intersections, though the lights have not yet been installed. Here is one of the masts at Walnut St. and Senate Ave.:

Looking northeast at the intersection of Walnut St. and Senate Ave.

Development: Sarojo Commons Siteplan

2010-03-12T16:27:00.001-05:00

Thanks to an anonymous reader for providing this siteplan for Sarojo Commons. The details will be tough to make out, but you can get a rough idea of the layout of the project.

The siteplan for Sarojo Commons, with Capitol Ave at left, St. Clair St. at
top, Muskingum St. (an alley) at right and an unnamed alley at bottom.

I was unaware that the project was so "thin", with the interior parking/driving area occupying over a third of the site. On the bright side, that interior area will feature permeable pavement. Keep Indianapolis Beautiful and The Nature Conservancy have permeable pavement in their parking lots, but Sarojo Commons will be the first non-environmentally-oriented development to feature this material in downtown.

Photos: Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Photo 23

2010-03-11T07:43:00.004-05:00

As part of the design of the North Corridor of the Cultural Trail, the intersection of St. Clair St. and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. was shifted slightly north to accommodate the Trail on the south side of St. Clair St. This is what the intersection looks like today:

Looking east from the southwest corner of the intersection.

The center island of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. was extended significantly to the north
to provide a safe stopping zone for those unable to cross the street in the available time.

Photos: Construction Begins on Sarojo Commons

2010-03-10T07:26:00.003-05:00

Site clearing began for Sarojo Commons about a month ago and concrete foundations are now beginning to be poured. Here's a peak at the work being done on the southeast corner of Capitol Ave. and St. Clair St.

Looking south, Capitol Ave. at right.

Looking east, St. Clair St. at left.

The entire site, looking southeast across the intersection of Capitol Ave. and St. Clair St.

A rendering of Sarojo Commons, submitted to the Metropolitan Development Commission.

Photos: Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Photo 22 (Set)

2010-03-09T07:57:00.005-05:00

Indianapolis Power & Light has been working nearly every day for the last couple of weeks at the intersection of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. and St. Clair St. They appear to be restringing power lines to different poles so that poles blocking the Cultural Trail and St. Clair St. can finally be removed. These photos depict the current state, with poles periodically sticking out of the road and the trail.

Looking east on St. Clair near the intersection with Fayette St.

Looking east on the Cultural Trail near the Central Canal.

Looking west on the Cultural Trail near the intersection of St. Clair St. and California St.

Photos: AJ's Lounge at Senate Manor

2010-03-08T08:50:00.002-05:00

What a difference some paint and new awnings can make. The new owners of Senate Manor (Senate Ave. and North St.) have been busy for the past several months renovating the 77-unit, two-building complex into "upscale apartments." They also gave the facade of AJ's Lounge, a small neighborhood bar, a nice upgrade.

February 8, 2009

March 7, 2010

Methodist Hospital Bed Tower Vision

2010-03-04T13:25:00.005-05:00

Clarian Health and the Methodist Health Foundation recently launched a philanthropic partnership called "Lighting the Way: the Campaign for Methodist Hospital." The campaign is designed to support critical care at Methodist Hospital with the goal of raising $100M. A large portion of this money will be used to construct a new bed tower at Methodist Hospital. An artistic vision of this tower was recently released in a Clarian newsletter:

The caption with this picture reads, "Although the exact specifications for the proposed bed
tower are yet to be determined, an architect's depiction illustrates the vision's potential."

Noting the distinctive Methodist Lighthouse and the facade of the Julius A. Hanson Unit at left, this tower proposal hints that they intend to replace an existing 8-story building located on the southwest corner of Capitol Ave. and 18th St. The new tower appears to be roughly 14 stories tall.

With copious unused land around their existing campus of buildings, it seems a strange choice to demolish a building for construction of this tower. Other factors may be at play -- the existing building may be in need of significant repairs and/or features an obsolete design. In any case, this project is likely years from coming to fruition.

New Regional Transportation Plans

2010-02-10T14:11:00.010-05:00

As many of you are already aware, the Central Indiana Transit Task Force today released a comprehensive plan to guide transportation planning in the Indy Metro area. Plans for commuter rail lines to Fishers and Greenwood and a light rail line along Washington St. are getting the lion's share of media attention, but everything from expressways to bike lanes is covered. More information on the plans can be found at the new Indy Connect webpage. They did a particularly nice job with the promotional video, so here it is again:

Curt over at Huston Street Racing was able to attend the press gathering for the event and will no doubt have an update for us at some point.

This N' That

2010-02-03T13:59:00.002-05:00

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. While there has been noticable progress in the last few months on projects already underway, we're seeing the effects of the economic downturn in that the pipeline for downtown Indianapolis projects is essentially empty. Government-backed and institutional construction continue while private development is nearly non-existent downtown.

Marriott Place -- The Fairfield Inn (occupying the completely renovated 8-story building that formerly housed a Courtyard by Marriott) officially opened its doors today. The Courtyard by Marriott and SpringHill Suites, housed in a separate 14-story tower, are slated to open later this month. The 1005 room, 34-story JW Marriott hotel tower is topped out and the curtain wall is very nearly complete (as always, you can watch the construction progress on the project webcam). Keep in mind that a year's worth of internal work remains to be completed before the cornerstone of this project opens in 2011.

IUPUI -- While the previous two-to-three years featured a significant round of construction projects at IUPUI -- including IU/Clarian Fairbanks Hall, Walther Hall (aka Research III), the Simon Cancer Center, and the Riley Hospital Tower expansion -- those projects were largely wrapped up (or delayed in the case of Riley Hospital) by the beginning of 2009. This left IUPUI in a rare period of zero construction for the better part of the year. IUPUI kicks off 2010 with a brand new round of projects, with the Glick Eye Institute and new Wishard Hospital under construction on the west end of campus and the California St. Parking Garage under construction on the east end of campus. After 11 months of delay, Clarian recently announced that they will resume construction on the Riley Hospital Tower expansion.

A rendering of the Glick Eye Institute.

A rendering of the California St. Parking Garage.

Cultural Trail -- North Corridor construction progressed through the end of the year, though cold weather has brought work to a halt and left the project in an odd state. The segment from Blackford and Indiana over to St. Clair and DMLK Jr. is largely complete though it remains blockaded due to the fact that utility poles on St. Clair are still located directly in the path of the trail. It's unclear why these poles were not relocated prior to construction. The segment from St. Clair and DMLK Jr. east to the junction with the Central Canal is likewise largely complete, though St. Clair as well as the Walnut St. pedestrian bridge remain closed across the canal. This dual bridge closure provides no pedestrian crossing of the canal from Michigan St. north to 10th St., a span of 0.5 miles. I attempted to contact the Cultural Trail about a construction update but have not received a response (which is also odd, as they are normally quick to respond and eager to provide information).

Sarojo Commons -- This project was very recently approved by the Metropolitan Development Commission and represents a rare start in this sour economy. A relatively modest 5-story, 30 unit building at the southeast corner of St. Clair and Capitol, Sarojo Commons is geared toward student renters. The fact that student rentals are relatively recession-proof, coupled with consistently high demand for downtown apartments from IUPUI students likely made this a safe bet for the bank issuing the project loan. Initial project renderings appear to show a small amount of retail space at the corner of Capitol and St. Clair. Site clearing and preparation have been observed in the last couple of days.

A rendering of Sarojo Commons, submitted to the Metropolitan Development Commission.

As time and weather permit, I hope to get out and about and capture some photos of construction projects in the near future.

Oak of Mamre: East African Restaurant at 14th and Pennsylvania

2009-11-20T12:23:00.008-05:00

I was handed this flyer while walking out of Methodist Hospital this morning:

Intriguing. A quick googling of the name shows that they participated in the Indy Winter Farmers Market that kicked off last weekend. I don't believe that Eritrean/Ethiopian cuisine is represented in the downtown area, so give 'em a whirl and see what you think. Personally, I'm curious about the 'traditional Eritrean coffee ceremony'.

Photos: Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Photo 21 (Set)

2009-11-03T09:29:00.006-05:00

This photo set focuses exclusively on one block of the Cultural Trail: Walnut St. between Senate Ave. and Capitol Ave. This block is unusual in that the entire road bed has been replaced by the Cultural Trail. I've been told that this is to be a shared vehicle and trail space, as businesses around Walnut St. require access to Walnut St. for trucks, but that signage will attempt to limit unnecessary vehicles on the trail.

Looking East on Walnut St. at Senate Ave.

Looking East at the inlaid brick pattern.

Looking East at the Cultural Trail-standard lamp posts.

Looking East at the intersection with Roanoke St. (an alley).

What was once a sidewalk along Zesco Products'
building is now a raised bed of greenery.

Looking Southwest from the intersection of Walnut St. and Capitol Ave.

For comparison, earlier construction photos of this area -- with the sidewalks and road bed completely removed -- are available here.

Photos: Indianapolis Cultural Trail meets the Central Canal (Pre-construction)

2009-10-30T13:40:00.002-04:00

Construction on the North Corridor of the Cultural Trail continues, with significant work on the realignment of St. Clair St. to accommodate the Cultural Trail at the intersection with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. Here are a pair of shots looking West on St. Clair St. from the intersection with Fayette St.

The next phase in the North Corridor construction process is the interface of the Cultural Trail with the Central Canal. This section, connecting St. Clair St. to the pedestrian bridge across the canal at Walnut St., may be the only piece of the trail that goes "off road." The trail will cut through a section of parkland on the west side of canal, immediately adjacent to the Gardens of Canal Court apartment complex. Before it's completely torn apart in the coming weeks, here are a set of pre-construction shots to document the state of the area:

Get ready for earth to be moved. This is looking Southeast at the point where
the trail will cut south from St. Clair St. to the Walnut St. pedestrian bridge.

At least DPW avoided American Dirt's complaint about putting construction warning signs directly in pedestrian walkways. It does say something about the department's mindset, however, that they have no choice but to put up a "Road Closed" sign even when they're doing construction on a walking path.

Looking north toward St. Clair St., Gardens of Canal Court at left.

Looking south toward the Walnut St. pedestrian bridge, Gardens of Canal Court at right.

Looking north from the West St. access path near the Walnut St.
pedestrian bridge. Those orange flags may denote the trail route.

Looking west from the Walnut St. pedestrian bridge.

Looking northwest from the Walnut St. pedestrian bridge at the West St. access path (left)
and the canal access path (curving right), with Gardens of Canal Court in the background.

Photo: Bar Yats -- Coming Soon

2009-10-21T12:27:00.012-04:00

NOTE: as of 9/8/10, Joe Yuskovich and the Yats name are no longer associated with this restaurant. It is now open under the name The Bar at The Ambassador. More info can be found here and here.

How would you like your Indianapolis Central Library experience with a side of étoufée?

In the near future, it looks like that will be possible. Yats, the beloved locally-owned chain of cajun-creole restaurants, is moving into some ground floor space in the Ambassador Apartment building at 9th and Pennsylvania Sts., next to the Central Library (see the curving north side of the library at left in the picture). The twist? This Yats will feature a full bar serving cocktails. Yats joins a mixture of bars and restaurants already established on the 900 block of Pennsylvania, including Datsa Pizza, Urban Element and the Living Room Lounge.

Buckingham Properties recently purchased the Ambassador Apartment building from the Central Library and has also been quietly buying every available property immediately north of the library. In the area bounded by Meridian, 10th, Pennsylvania and the Central Library, they envision a mixed-use block called Library Square. It's refreshing to see the fruits of their work, despite the bad economy. In addition to Yats, the refurbished Ambassador Apartments reopened recently and a Key Bank branch is set to open at Meridian and Sahm Sts. shortly.

See additional information on Property Lines. Sounds like this may be a bit more than just adding alcohol service to the existing Yats concept.

DIG-B: Hiatus and Second Anniversary

2009-10-02T14:37:00.005-04:00

Apologies for the brief absence, but I've been tending to a new priority in my life -- my new baby girl was born on September 17th! Since then, I also missed DIG-B's second anniversary, which occurred on September 24th. Blogs published in a vacuum don't mean much, so my thanks go out to everybody who continues to stop by to read and those that provide feedback with comments on the posts.

Not surprisingly, my post volume is likely to stay low for the foreseeable future, though I'll probably pop up from time to time with big items and things local to me (e.g. construction on a segment of the Cultural Trail essentially right outside my front door is set to begin 10/8, so I really have no excuse for not updating you on that). Long term, I hope to get back to two or three posts a week. Thanks everybody for continuing to read!

Development: Senate Ave. and St. Clair St. -- A Blank Slate

2009-09-16T10:57:00.012-04:00

Several years ago this warehouse went on the market (9th St. and the Canal, still currently used by Kirkbride Bible Co.):

Then sometime in the last year or so, this warehouse went on the market (east side of Senate Ave., between St. Clair St. and Walnut St., previous tenant unknown):

Then a couple weeks ago, this warehouse went on the market (St. Clair St. and the Canal, formerly B.H. Gardner Co.):

And now, as of a week or so ago, this warehouse is on the market (St. Clair St. and Capitol Ave., formerly Litho Press Inc.):

The former Litho Press building is a full quarter-block, four story building at St. Clair St. and Capitol Ave. It's just begging for a first rate refurb that opens up the huge window openings that were bricked-up years ago. It could be a great residential loft conversion, though many other uses are certainly possible. An 88 space parking lot is associated with the building. Here are a couple photos that show the detailing on this old warehouse:

The Southeast corner of the building, St. Clair St. facade.

Same location, focusing on the roofline.

Looking West at the Capitol Ave. facade.

Same location, focusing on the detail around the main entrance.

The Northeast corner of the building.

With the Litho Press building now on the market, my eyeball estimate is that about 25% of the land in the four city blocks around the intersection of Senate Ave. and St. Clair St. is now actively for sale. Additionally 15% or so could be classified as completely vacant or underutilized (though not actively for sale). Talk about a blank slate!

Here's a look at the land for sale (sites outlined in green) and vacant/underutilized (outlined in red), with the Cultural Trail route through this area in blue:

View Senate and St. Clair in a larger map (longer descriptions of each site are also available).

With this much land simultaneously available, it behooves the city to have a specific, long-term vision for how redevelopment of this area should progress. This is doubly important given that this area sits adjacent to the future crossroads of Indianapolis' two great urban walkways: the Cultural Trail and the Central Canal Walk. The Indianapolis Regional Center Plan 2020 specifies 'Residential 27-49 DUA' (Dwelling Units per Acre) for the block northwest of the intersection and 'Research Community Mixed-Use' for the remaining three blocks.

What goals should the city have for this area?

Photos: More Al Fresco Dining on Washington St.

2009-09-15T10:34:00.002-04:00

New outdoor seating areas recently opened for The Pita Pit and Adobo Grill.

Looking East on Washington St., just East of Pennsylvania St.

The expansion of al fresco dining on Washington St. doesn't end there. At the intersection of Washington and Illinois, Tastings, a new wine bar in the Conrad that is scheduled to open in the fall, plans to have outdoor seating on the northeast corner, while Panera Bread has filed plans to have a seating area on the northwest corner (opening date not yet known).

Development: B.H. Gardner Discussion

2009-09-13T21:05:00.012-04:00

The B.H. Gardner site I posted about a couple weeks ago is now the focus of some more in-depth reporting by Indianapolis Business Journal and an extended commentary by The Urbanophile. Both are highly recommended reading.

In response to the IBJ article, I'd like to address two specific comments. The first is by Dennis Dye of Browning Investments Inc.:

The challenge with retail is that St. Clair Street and Senate Avenue isn’t exactly “Main and Main,” he said.

I believe Mr. Dye's comment misses two points:

1. The intersection of St. Clair St. and Senate Ave. isn't "Main & Main" not because something else is there, but because there's NOTHING there. Literally: the northeast corner of that intersection is a completely undeveloped grass lot (the other three are parking lots). Rather than being a drawback, I'd call that a blank slate upon which to build anything you want -- including making it the next residential/commercial corner in downtown.

2. There is untapped potential in that area to support retail. I've estimated in the past that the immediate vicinity of the canal is the highest density residential in the city. To give an idea of what I'm talking about, here are the approximate total residential units in the apartment complexes along the canal:

425 Gardens of Canal Court
275 Canal Square
125 Canal Overlook
----
825 units

At 1.5 people-per-unit occupancy (it's probably higher), that's a capacity for 1,238 residents in the canal apartment complexes. That doesn't even include people living in the Watermark condos, Fayette St., and Senate Manor (not to mention Ransom Place across West St.). By next year -- when 218 units will be open in the Cosmopolitan on the Canal -- I'd estimate roughly 2,000 people will live within one block of the canal, with nearly zero retail to support it. This is at least twice as many residents as any neighborhood in downtown, in an area that only stretches from New York to 10th St. Flaherty & Collins recognizes this opportunity and built retail into the Cosmo; any development at St. Clair and the canal should be expected to follow suit.

The second comment in the IBJ article that I'd like to address concerns potential uses of this site:

The most feasible use of the parcels is for apartments or for an expansion of an existing campus of buildings serving Clarian Health and Indiana University, real estate brokers said.

Simply put, it would be huge, HUGE folly to allow Clarian or IUPUI to develop this land. I cannot stress that point enough. Neither is land-starved at their main campuses and both have already proven themselves to be incompetent in designing their existing buildings' integration with both the canal and the urban setting. It would be terrible to let them continue to suck up valuable canal-front land for strictly self-serving buildings. If IUPUI and Clarian REALLY feel the need to expand in that area, they should build a parking garage next to Fairbanks Hall and put that gigantic parking lot to better use.

Rather than allowing them to expand their presence, we should actually work in the opposite direction. I suggest that IUPUI shrink their footprint in the area by relinquishing the IU Emerging Technologies Center (ETC) parking lot between the ETC building and 9th St. That would open up three contiguous canal-front properties to redevelopment, a potentially enticing option for local developers. As for the loss of parking at the ETC, they could still maintain their main lot on 10th St. and there's more than enough additional parking available in the Fairbanks Hall lot for overflow. The land that their secondary lot occupies is far too useful and valuable to continue to be used for a parking lot.

The B.H. Gardner site and the warehouse site immediately north of it are critical to the continued development of a cohesive neighborhood between the canal and Senate Ave. I would rather see those sites lie fallow than allow more bad development to scuttle the opportunity of this area.

Development: Canal Restaurants -- One Opportunity Not Yet Lost

2009-09-08T19:03:00.007-04:00

While the natural draw of the Central Canal presents a unique opportunity for restaurants to generate business during the warm summer months, an almost complete lack of drawing power during the winter makes profitable business during those cold months nearly impossible. Because of that, and despite all the clamoring that is commonly heard for canal-side dining, the near-term odds for full-year canal restaurants are dismal.

For now, I believe that the best prospects for year-round restaurants on the canal are at the interfaces of streets and the canal. Bi-level restaurants with one floor fronting the street and the lower floor fronting the canal would provide restaurants with the best of both worlds: the draw of canal-side dining during the warm months and the safety of a standard street-front for advertising and access during cold months. Unfortunately, there are precious few of these locations left (one such opportunity exists at the B.H. Gardner site I recently wrote about).

There is also a similar opportunity presented by the head of the canal. That northern terminus slopes up to street level all around, in a way providing canal-front at street level. The restaurants in Buggs Temple can make it work as year-round restaurants right now because they front both the canal and 11th St. (obviously, their proximity to three mid-rise office buildings and a transit stop doesn't hurt). Unfortunately, the unique opportunity of this zone was wasted in the IU/Clarian Fairbanks Hall and almost completely squandered by the IUPUI Health Information and Translational Sciences (HITS) Building.

An opportunity for Fairbanks Hall to interact with 10th St. (and the canal) was lost.

The HITS Building was dedicated in 2007, providing 167k sq.ft. in a 6-story $42M concrete structure. Almost all of its canal frontage is occupied by office windows and a massive main entrance. However, it also provides an interesting, and until now completely vacant, space immediately next to the entrance.

The IUPUI Health Information and Translational Sciences Building.

At the HITS Building groundbreaking ceremony, it was reported that, "When completed in 2006, the building also will include restaurants and other shops to serve the occupants of the building and the general public." When the building was dedicated on March 7, 2007, the IU School of Medicine's press release stated, "As an added convenience for employees, the building includes 3,810 square feet of retail space for a café and other specialty shops." Two-and-a-half years on and none of this promise has materialized, though fortunately, the space is still available.

Three doors provide access: two seen here to the right of the main entrance

that open directly to the canal -- one is partially behind the first pillar, the

other is between the third and fourth pillars -- and one off of the main lobby.

Utilizing this space seems like such a slam dunk for both the building and the canal that, even if it were a chain of some sort operated by Chartwells (the IUPUI Food Service contractor), I'm not sure why this space still isn't occupied. Parking could be a concern, but a core business of serving lunch to employees working in and around this building should not require parking. Serving dinner is probably a stretch, but opening up the 27 parking spaces in the small lot on the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. side of the building to after hours public parking could also make dinner service viable. The visibility of the building on 10th and 11th Sts. also provides an opportunity for signage to advertise such a space.

A small parking lot for the HITS Building sits next to Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. St., with an entrance off of 10th St. shown here.

Whatever the reason for the delay up to this point, here's hoping we don't have to wait another two and a half years for this space to be put to good use.

Photos: Market St. Reconstruction Preview

2009-09-01T09:54:00.009-04:00

The Market St. ramp is long gone and the reconstruction of Market St. is nearly complete. I'll likely have a full spread of pictures once this project is complete, but for now, here's a taste of how things are turning out (photos taken during the SSC Tour on August 22).

Development: B.H. Gardner Co. "Available"

2009-08-29T08:49:00.006-04:00

Sometime earlier this week, a sign was erected advertising "Available" in front of the B.H. Gardner Co. warehouse.

B.H. Gardner is a bakery supply distributor that has been in business in Indianapolis since 1924. Based on the above photo, this could be almost any warehouse in the city. What makes this particular one special is its location on the Central Canal in downtown, one of several generally nondescript warehouse structures lining the East bank of the Canal between St. Clair and 10th Sts.:

A guess for the whole site based on apparent property lines is outlined in green at the lower-right.

This site is just one piece of the largest strip of Canal frontage left to be developed:

Looking North from the St. Clair St. bridge over the Canal. The B.H. Gardner
warehouse is the first building on the right and ends roughly at that cluster of pine trees.

Looking East from the same location, St. Clair St. at right.

Is this building and site "Available" for sale or lease? It's a key difference but, as of the time of this writing, this property is not yet listed on Hokanson Co.'s website to provide us the answer. Hopefully it's for sale and this property can be used to continue the budding of retail on the canal. You may find this surprising, but the length of canal frontage for this site is almost exactly the same as the Cosmopolitan site (about 250 ft.).

Also see an excellent analysis of the history of canal development over on the relatively new blog American Dirt.

Photos: Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Photo 20

2009-08-28T15:02:00.003-04:00

Looking West from the intersection of Walnut and Capitol (Zesco Restaurant Supply at left). The road bed here will be a shared vehicle and Cultural Trail space. An attempt will be made to discourage unnecessary vehicle traffic, but the businesses around this area require Walnut for truck access.

Photos: Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Photo 19

2009-08-25T11:16:00.003-04:00

The median that will house the Glick Peace Walk, looking West on Walnut.

Stepping back and looking at the median from the intersection of Walnut and Capitol.

Skyscraper City Meetup and Tour, Summer 2009

2009-08-20T15:46:00.007-04:00

Many of my readers are no doubt familiar with Skyscraper City, a collection of forums dedicated to the discussion of all things urban. There is a particularly active forum for Indianapolis and I've organized a meetup and tour for this Saturday. Anybody that regularly checks this blog but doesn't participate over on Skyscraper City is more than welcome to join us as well. We aren't scary and you don't have to be an expert. Just bring an interest in Indianapolis development and a desire to learn more. And, of course, your walkin' shoes.

If you're interested in joining us, here's the meetup info and a map of the tour route (please bring $1.75 exact change as we'll be using the IndyGo Red Line to move from the east side of downtown to the IUPUI campus).

Skyscraper City Indy Meetup and Tour

Saturday, August 22 at 9am
Meet at the outdoor tables at the downtown Dunkin' Donuts (NW corner of Washington and Pennsylvania)
Look for me, the guy wearing a kelly green t-shirt with the Hoosier Beer Geek logo on it

View SCS Meetup & Tour, Summer 2009 in a larger map

Photo: JW Marriott at Night

2009-08-20T07:29:00.002-04:00

Matt Heidelberger is right -- night shots are hard (this link goes to an interview with Matt that is worth checking out). I tried capturing some shots of the JW Marriott at dusk and ended up with this one shot that seems worthy of posting. Note the reflection of the Capitol in the upper-left corner.

Photos: Cosmopolitan on the Canal Rebuilding

2009-08-19T15:53:00.010-04:00

I also posted this set of photos back in April, immediately after the site had been cleared of the arson remnants. This time I added a fourth photo to the set, showing the beginning of the rebuilding process. Looks like a reset to last October, which confirms reports that the fire "set the $37 million project back about 10 months."

October 7, 2008

March 12, 2009

April 11, 2009

August 18, 2009

Also note how much more secure the left edge of the canal-front safety wall is than it was before the fire. I recall that you could essentially walk up, pull on the chain-link fencing and waltz right into the site if you were so inclined. Not any more. Flaherty & Collins isn't taking any chances with security this time around.

Photos: Indianapolis Cultural Trail Photo 18

2009-08-18T20:47:00.006-04:00

Up to this point, the design of the Cultural Trail has been nearly flawless. However, some very bad decisions were made regarding the Walnut St. sidewalks outside of the Glick Peace Walk. Consider this sidewalk on the north side of Walnut between Illinois and Capitol:

I put my arm down on the sidewalk to get a rough measurement: wall to curb = fingertip to shoulder = about 28". Why even bother with a sidewalk that narrow? Apparently the designers decided they wouldn't and completely eliminated the sidewalk on this section between Meridian and Illinois:

What do you think about these decisions?

Development: Observations Around Town

2009-08-15T11:17:00.007-04:00

I attended a wedding last weekend and left my camera in a friend's car. Unfortunately, that car went to South Carolina before I realized the camera was missing. For now, here are some things I've observed around town.

Cosmopolitan on the Canal: After the March fire wiped out a significant portion of the complex, workers spent several months salvaging and rebuilding the spared main building at Senate and Michigan. Now, they appear to have started the process of rebuilding the rest of the complex. Some new wood framing is present along Michigan and one of the two metal frames for the canal-front sections have reappeared (EDIT 8/15: just walked by and both frames are now up). Their website says "COMING FALL 2009 - NOW LEASING" so they must be fairly close to finishing the rebuild on the main building. Maybe the retail sections will open this fall as well? (EDIT 8/16: the Indy Star reports that they won't reopen any of the complex until early 2010. Maybe Flaherty & Collins should update their webpage?)

Indiana Convention Center Expansion: This project is moving along fast. It's obviously very visible as you drive south on Capitol but you can see a significant portion of the expansion rising above the train tracks while driving north on Missouri as well. It's BIG. The "diving board" for the new main entrance at Georgia and Capitol has been installed.

Indianapolis Cultural Trail: It seems like you can't go anywhere immediately north of downtown without seeing some aspect of the construction. Almost the entire North and Northeast Corridors of the trail are simultaneously under construction, a total of approximately 2 miles (for comparison, the completed section on Alabama is 0.5 miles).

Zing: We're just a couple weeks from the one year anniversary of their opening. Why do I note this? Because the owners indicated that they needed to wait one year for the galvanized steel of their wrap-around deck to cure before painting it. Here's how they envisioned the final product:

Elements: When they closed in April, owner Dennis Dunn indicated they would remain available for special events while attempting to secure funding to reopen. He was most likely blowing sunshine, but if not, that possibility is officially dead given that there is now a For Lease sign in the window. With a prime location on the Cultural Trail, next to a pocket park and very near Mass Ave, I can't imagine this space will stay empty for very long.

Photos: Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Photo 17

2009-08-06T11:59:00.002-04:00

Looking west from St. Clair and Fayette Sts. (more utility relocations).

Photo: Indiana War Memorial at Night

2009-08-03T10:40:00.001-04:00

Photos: Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Photo 16

2009-07-31T12:50:00.004-04:00

Looking southeast at the intersection of Meridian and westbound Walnut.

This intersection deserves a little more detail, so here are some extras:

Looking east at the westbound vehicular lane of Walnut (American Legion Mall in the distance).

Looking north at the Cultural Trail segment next to Meridian.

Photo: One Indiana Square at Night

2009-07-30T07:52:00.000-04:00

Photos: Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Photo 15

2009-07-29T12:25:00.004-04:00

The bases and vertical posts for "Prairie Modules 1 & 2" have been installed. This piece of art is located on the Northeast Corridor, on North St. between Alabama and New Jersey.

Looking east on North St. (the Murat Theatre is off the picture to the right).

I'm very curious to see how this one turns out. Here's what the finished project should look like:

Looking north across North St. from the Murat Theatre parking lot.

Photos: Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Photo 14

2009-07-28T17:20:00.003-04:00

Construction is full speed ahead on the North Corridor of the Cultural Trail. The photo below shows the intersection of Indiana Ave., Paca St. and St. Clair St., near the western terminus of this corridor.

St. Clair is currently closed between Indiana and West for utility relocation, construction of the Cultural Trail and resurfacing of St. Clair (which was in horrible condition).

There has also been significant progress on the segment between Senate and Meridian since I posted the previous update and I hope to provide an update on that if the weather cooperates in the next couple days.

I also wanted to give a quick update regarding DIG-B. No, I'm not letting this blog slowly die, it's just very slowly adapting to a couple of changes in my life that have taken away a considerable amount of the free time I used to devote to blogging. The first is my change of jobs last December. Though the job is personally much more rewarding, it provides considerably less down time that I used to use for writing and assembling posts. The second change is my wife and I preparing for the arrival of our first child in September. That's taking a small amount of time away right now, but rumor has it that will take a much bigger chunk come September!

So, I hope you won't take DIG-B out of your blog readers, or stop checking for updates directly here. DIG-B isn't dead, it's just slowing down.

Photos: Indianapolis Cultural Trail North Corridor Update

2009-06-24T20:07:00.011-04:00

These photos show construction of the North Corridor of the Cultural Trail, specifically Walnut St. between Senate Ave. and Meridian St. Photos taken Saturday June 20th.

Looking East from Senate and Walnut (the Central Canal is one block to the West).
The Cultural Trail will occupy the entire street bed between the Canal and
Capitol, though vehicles will NOT be restricted from driving in this section.

Looking South on Senate, showing the future curb bump-out.

Looking Southwest from Capitol and Walnut.

Looking West from Capitol and Walnut (Zesco at left).

Looking East from Capitol and Walnut. Between Capitol and Meridian, the Cultural Trail will be on a raised median at the center of Walnut. Vehicle traffic will be divided to either side of the trail.

Looking East from Illinois and Walnut.

Same location as the previous photo, capturing the glory of the Scottish Rite Cathedral.

Looking South on Capitol, showing the curb bump-out.

Looking North from Meridian and Walnut. This will be the entrance
for westbound vehicles on this section of Walnut.

Looking West from Meridian and St. Clair.

Photo: The Many Architectural Styles of Methodist Hospital

2009-06-09T17:50:00.001-04:00

Like many older hospitals, Methodist Hospital has been added onto again and again and again over the years with very little regard to making the overall structure cohesive in any way. This particular shot is looking due south from Employee Parking Garage 3. How many architectural styles do you see?

Photo: Indianapolis Skyline from the Northwest

2009-06-08T20:43:00.010-04:00

Walking down Indiana Ave. the other day, I was drawn to this view of the skyline with the new One Indiana Square facade in there (the blue one second from left). I find the new facade to be rather boring and monotonous from a distance but considerably more interesting up close. It definitely adds an element of coolness to the skyline in a shot like this that displays some depth. It's a nice pair to the AT&T 220 Building (the blue one at center) -- eventually a trio with the JW Marriott hotel under construction.

As always, click on the photo to see a higher resolution version.

Cafe Zuppa Opens Tomorrow

2009-06-07T19:16:00.004-04:00

Cafe Zuppa, the new restaurant occupying the former Gabriel's location in the Chamber of Commerce Building (320 N. Meridian), officially opens tomorrow for breakfast and lunch. Stop by and welcome them to downtown!

Photos: Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Photo 13

2009-05-05T08:24:00.003-04:00

A before shot, the entrance to the alley connecting Mass Ave. to College Ave.:

An after shot, with the unique piece of "multisensory artwork" by Sean Derry called Chatham Passage.:

Photo: Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Photo 12

2009-04-14T09:04:00.003-04:00

If you have time, check out the Northeast Corridor Construction Kick-Off today. The event begins at 1:30pm at the location pictured here, the alley behind Chatham Tap and Scholars Inn on Mass Ave. In case of inclement weather, the event will be held across the street at the Firefighters Union Hall, 748 Mass Ave.

Photos: Cosmopolitan on the Canal Cleanup

2009-04-12T00:04:00.000-04:00

October 7, 2008

March 12, 2009

April 11, 2009

Photos: JW Marriott Indianapolis Construction Update

2009-04-11T17:04:00.003-04:00

All photos taken 4/11/09.

Photo: Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Photo 11

2009-04-09T07:31:00.001-04:00

A pre-construction shot of Walnut St., looking east from the intersection of New Jersey St. The Cultural Trail will be a combined trail (pedestrians and bicycles share) on the left side of the street at this location.

Photos: Southeast Corner of West and Washington

2009-04-08T13:00:00.004-04:00

I was going through some photos from a couple months ago and found a couple of this open lot at the corner of West and Washington. With 1626 hotel rooms going in across the street -- and all the wallets and purses that will be staying there -- how long will this lot stay empty? I can't confirm, but I assume the State of Indiana owns this lot and has it earmarked for State office expansion. With the convention mega-complex to the south of this location, though, it might be in everybody's best interest for the State to give up this lot and consider expanding north from the Statehouse if they need space in the future.

Looking East, with Washington St. and the Indiana Government Center on the left.

Looking West, with West St. at the top and the JW Marriot beyond.

Photos: Multimodal Node

2009-04-07T07:38:00.005-04:00

Near the southern terminus of the Monon Trail at 10th St., there's a pretty interesting criss-crossing of transportation systems. Consider this list:

Interstate Expressway - I65/I70 Interchange
Freight Railraod - CSX Railroad
Urban Street - 10th St.
Urban Sidewalk - 10th St.
Rail-to-Trail Recreational Path - Monon Trail
Future Urban Bike and Pedestrian Path - Northeast Corridor of the Indy Cultural Trail
Proposed Commuter Rail - Northeast Corridor

There are so many systems it's difficult to capture them all in one photograph. Here's my best attempt, looking south across 10th St.:

You can see the CSX line and I65/70 at the upper corners, 10th St. and its sidewalks in the middle, the Monon Trail at lower-right where it will meet the Cultural Trail (it will head to the right off the photo) and finally, I'm standing on the proposed commuter rail route, which would go due south over 10th St. on a bridge at this location.

This photo doesn't capture the all the systems but I've included it because I think it's a better photo overall:

Turning around looking north, you see the proposed route for a commuter rail line serving Indy's northeast suburbs out to Noblesville, the former Nickel Plate Line.

Just to the right of the route sits this little building. I'm not sure what its purpose was, but it was certainly related to the rail lines that passed by this location.

Photos: Signs at Buggs Temple, Finally

2009-04-06T14:57:00.005-04:00

It's not like anyone is going to miss the restaurant action on the canal side, but I have to think that branding the building on that side would help business as well.

Photo: Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Photo 10

2009-04-05T17:51:00.005-04:00

Looking east on North St. from the corner of Alabama St., the first signs of construction on the Northeast Corridor are visible.

Video: Cosmopolitan Cleanup

2009-03-14T08:46:00.002-04:00

Video and photos from March 13th. Once you start playback of the video, hit HQ in the lower right corner for higher-resolution video.

For comparison to that last shot, here's the closest angle I've got from my pre-fire collection.

Indianapolis

Photos: Cosmopolitan Fire Update

2009-03-12T12:47:00.007-04:00

These first three were taken around 8am on my way to work.

From a moving People Mover.

The rest of these were taken around 11:45am on my lunch break.

See early-morning fire photos here and a February 10th construction update here.

Photos: Cosmo Burning

2009-03-12T06:30:00.009-04:00

The canal side of the Cosmopolitan apartment complex almost completely burned to the ground this morning. As of this writing, the fire is not out at the center of the complex, but the Senate side still appears to be standing. News is reporting that 125 fire fighters were called to the scene at 3:30am.

See earlier photos of this project under construction here.

Photo: Indianapolis Skyline from the Southwest

2009-03-05T18:05:00.002-05:00

Photos: The Pedestrian Plan at Watermark Townhomes

2009-02-17T17:37:00.003-05:00

North St. near Senate Ave., at the entrance to Watermark Townhomes.

Photos: Urban Public Utilities

2009-02-13T12:30:00.010-05:00

I believe this relatively new building on Illinois near St. Clair is part of Indy's chilled water system (I'm sure thundermutt knows for sure!). My question: if you're going to build a public utility structure on an urban street, do we give them credit for at least attempting to gussy it up? Or does this still fall short?

Photo: New York St. Bike Lane

2009-02-11T07:23:00.002-05:00

I'm unsure about the purpose of this sign but I noticed it at the Southeast corner of New York and West over the weekend. It's clearly oriented to the sidewalk so my only thought is that it's a warning to pedestrians that the area immediately beyond the curb is the future New York bike lane -- look closely on the pavement and you'll see "BIKE LANE" spray painted. If so, however, the sign is oddly offset well to the right of the New York pedestrian crossing (off the left edge of this photo).

Photos: Cosmopolitan on the Canal Construction Update

2009-02-10T07:44:00.005-05:00

If you stumbled upon this post looking for information about the Cosmopolitan fire on March 12, 2009, information and photos can be found here and here.

The first photo in this set was taken January 28, 2009. The remainder were taken February 8, 2009. Previous construction updates and renderings can be viewed here.

On the day of the Great Indianapolis Snow Storm of '09.
Probably shouldn't have been out driving.
Definitely shouldn't have been taking pictures out my windshield.

Looking North along the canal from the Michigan/Indiana Bridge.

Looking East at the canal-side courtyard space.

Looking Northeast from the Historic Landmarks Foundation loading loop.

Looking Northeast at the Michigan frontage. The brick facade is being
attached underneath the plastic sheeting but nothing is visible yet.

Looking West at the Senate frontage.

Looking Northwest at the Senate frontage.

The parking garage entrance along the Senate frontage.

The effect on the Michigan streetscape looking West.

The effect on the Senate streetscape looking South.

Photos: JW Marriott Indianapolis Construction Update

2009-02-08T14:44:00.004-05:00

These photos were taken in, around, and on top of the State of Indiana Washington Street Parking Garage on February 8, 2009.

Photos: Indiana Parking Garage

2009-02-02T07:50:00.000-05:00

Location: 145 E. Market St.
Built: 1930 (oldest parking garage in Indianapolis)
Height: 8 Floors

Development: The Waverley

2009-01-30T07:45:00.013-05:00

I intended to take a series of photographs to document this project but The Waverley complex is controlled access so that's a bit difficult unless I pull a No Promise of Safety. Here's a look at the eastern edge of the complex with the Indianapolis Skyline in the background.

You can just barely see Georgia St. at the left edge of the photo with Conseco Fieldhouse peaking through the tree branches. The project was to front East St. at Georgia St. with a small retail building called The Waverley Commons. Those plans have either been postponed or canceled, as the complex is done and there's no sign of work to come along East St. Here's a rendering of the proposed retail component:

That rendering is pretty uninspiring, so perhaps we're better off that it wasn't built. A design that uses the entire East St. frontage, with ground floor retail and 2-4 stories of residences above -- they're already in the business of renting apartments, so why not maximize the land use? -- would be much more appropriate. As for the residential component, I think it's a solid project. Most importantly, the developers gambled on a forgotten section of downtown between the Wholesale District and Fletcher Place. While it isn't terrible dense, they made appropriate use of the land. Here's the final siteplan (the top photo was taken from the lower-right corner, with Georgia St. at bottom, East St. at left and the unbuilt retail section at the lower-left):

A very unfortunate decision was made to eliminate Park Ave. as a public street on the eastern boundary of the complex (it would have been at the edge of the parking lot in the top photo, right where the wooden fence is). If this complex had embraced the surrounding streets -- East, Park and Georgia -- rather than gating itself off from the city, I think it could have been a great project. As it is, The Waverley has added 164 apartments to the tax rolls of Center Township as well as hundreds of residents that can help to revitalize this area. If we finally see some development on Virginia between the train tracks and South St., The Waverley will certainly have been a driving force. For now, its safe to call this a good first step.

Photos: The View from the 8th Floor of Riley Towers 2

2009-01-28T12:31:00.003-05:00

My wife and I lived in Riley Towers until 2005. These were taken the day we moved out.

From the archives (May 2005).

Photo: Indianapolis Skyline from Mass Ave.

2009-01-26T17:19:00.002-05:00

Photos: Allen Plaza's Previous Facade

2009-01-19T16:37:00.005-05:00

Several months ago a small piece of the former facade on the Allen Plaza was exposed after a window was removed. A larger portion of the exterior facade was then removed about a month ago, revealing a complete section of the old facade and the extent to which it was damaged to attach the newer facade.

By comparing the exposed area to renderings that have been released, it seems likely that this section of facade was only exposed for the purpose of attaching the newest exterior, a prominent glass "tower" on the corner of the building.

Photo: The Old and The New

2008-12-23T15:58:00.003-05:00

From Delaware St. near Market St.

Have a Happy Holidays everybody! See you after the New Year.

Photo: Market Street

2008-12-18T17:34:00.006-05:00

On Market Street between Pennsylvania and Delaware. Click here to see the context of this building's facade.

I must protect my family from the sun!

Photos: Bank One Lives On

2008-12-10T20:56:00.003-05:00

J.P. Morgan Chase bought Bank One more than four years ago but a vestige of Bank One's time in Indy is still visible on top of the Hilton Garden Inn in downtown. I've seen this sign from my dentist's 17th floor office in downtown but I never knew it was visible from street level until I was on Market Street between Pennsylvania and Delaware this weekend. I've got a collection of photos from that area that I hope to post at some point in the near future.

I take the train to work.

2008-12-02T10:52:00.001-05:00

For institutional researchers, you generally have to live and die by federal research grants. Unfortunately, the success rate on receiving those grants is not very good, so funding on-going research can be a crapshoot. Such was my experience, having found out recently that funding for my position in an IUPUI lab was going to lapse at the end of December.

Luckily, I was able to find a new job relatively quickly in a lab at Methodist Hospital. My first day will be next Monday and I'm very excited! I'm also a little melancholy to be leaving my comfy old lab position that I've held for a little over six years. On the bright side, the new position is a great opportunity to expand my skills set and build connections for the future. In a sexy twist, though, it also provides me with the opportunity to say something that not many people in Indianapolis can say:

I take the train to work.

Given that I live on the canal, I can just walk a couple blocks up the canal, get on the People Mover and take it to my new job at Methodist. Or I can hop on my bike and ride some relatively bike-friendly roads, St. Clair St. and Senate Ave., from my apartment to Methodist. Or I could walk there (about a mile). Or -- heaven forbid! -- I could just drive my car. By far, though, the coolest option is walking to the People Mover and riding it to Methodist.

The Clarian People Mover pulling into the Methodist Hospital Station.

Wish me luck in my new job!

Photo: One Indiana Square Refacade Update

2008-11-24T13:31:00.000-05:00

Apologies

2008-11-19T00:28:00.002-05:00

Apologies for the lack of posts around here. In case you missed it below, I did buy a new camera to take pictures -- you'd think I would have gotten more posts up here recently! Unfortunately, the crappy weather, personal travel and the lack of new projects have conspired to keep me from going out and taking pictures. Once I get out and about, here are some things I'm hoping to get updates on:

3Mass
The Cosmopolitan
Riley Hospital Tower
The Waverley (this one's been done for a while, but I never got a final set of photos)

In the mean time, check out the cool photographs Mr. Heidelberger is capturing over at his relatively new blog, The Heidelberger Papers, as well as The Urbanophile's new project, Naptown Observer.

Photos: Taste of Tango Update

2008-11-07T11:08:00.008-05:00

My wife and I were on our way to one of the newest "best kept secrets in downtown" -- Adobo Grill's half-priced margaritas and $1 tacos for Thursday happy hour -- and walked past the on-going work at Taste of Tango. You may remember that this restaurant was originally slated to open over a year ago and was delayed and delayed and then put on hold while the owner financed other projects. Well, finally, it appears that the restaurant is very much back on. Cory over at Property Lines noticed a sign a month ago indicating "Now Hiring."

Yesterday, we also noticed an orange liquor license application in the window (click to see the details -- it's a beer and wine license dated 10/31/08):

It was dark last night so I couldn't take any pictures of the exterior. It hasn't really changed, anyway, so here are some shots I took last fall/winter:

Yes, my new camera has arrived! The pictures of the signs were taken with it.

New Camera

2008-11-04T08:56:00.003-05:00

I ordered a new camera over the weekend that should probably be here by the end of the week. Thank god. I've been limping along with photos from my cell phone that are looking worse and worse, so no more of that garbage. I expect photo posts to return next week and I'll probably have a review of the camera after I've put it through the paces.

Go.
Vote.
Now.

Photo: Walking to Work

2008-10-24T17:41:00.001-04:00

Here's the nicest part of my walk to work, a tree canopied sidewalk between Indiana Ave. and North St. near the Sigma Theta Tau Building (Honor Society of Nursing):
I'm also happy to report that despite some finger-numbing mornings and rapidly falling gas prices, I walked to work every day this week. I don't think I've done that since my Bike Life experiment over the summer.

Gear: LG Chocolate 3 Review

2008-10-22T16:11:00.009-04:00

Despite my techie/gearhead leanings, I've always preferred to have a cell phone that was just a phone. No crazy internet access, no GPS navigation system, not even a camera (though I relented and my most recent phone had a camera). I just wanted something simple to stick in my pocket without a lot of crazy features. I didn't think that I needed -- or wanted to pay for -- any extra baggage.

The problem I've discovered after having gone through two 2-year contracts with phones at that level is that they're generally terrible phones. There's no money to be made on basic phones so cell phone manufacturers don't put any special engineering design or high quality batteries into them. Exhibit A: my most recent phone's battery wouldn't hold a charge worth more than 5 minutes of talk time with about 6 weeks to go on my contract. I happen to hate talking on the phone, so in certain cases this wasn't a bad thing! Still, more often it was very annoying.

When my Verizon contract was up in September and I was eligible for a "new every two" discount, I decided to skip the low end and at least look at the middle of the road phones where some solid design and components might be used. After looking around for a while, I honed in on the LG Chocolate 3 (VX-8560).

Things I liked from my research:

It's good as a phone. Several sites lauded good general phone capabilities. One even decided to start using this phone as its gold standard for comparison to other phones. General phone use is what I was always after, so big plus here.
Charged via USB. Notice the USB symbol on the bottom edge of the phone? The charger for the phone is actually an AC to USB port adapter. The phone comes with a USB cable and you can either plug it into the adapter or just plug it into a USB port on a computer. Cool idea.
Decent 2.0MP camera quality. My line has always been, "I don't need a camera on my cell phone, my regular camera works just fine." I have to admit, though, there are times when you're out somewhere and being able to grab something at least decent can be very useful (my previous phone's camera was horrid). It can also be very useful when you lose your regular camera.
1GB capacity MP3 player built in. I've had an iPod for years but I've never had much use for it. When I'm at a computer (home, work, HTPC) I use Rhapsody to stream music from the internet and when I'm driving somewhere, I listen to CDs or the radio. Maybe having the MP3 player right on a device I'll always have in my pocket will change my use paradigm?
FM transmitter built in. I have an FM transmitter for the iPod but I've found it too klugey, too cumbersome and too poor sound quality to be of much use in the car, particularly when most of my downtown trips are 5 minutes or less -- it's really not worth the hassle of getting the transmitter running for trips that short. This one is built right into the phone and has a nice simple interface that might overcome the shortcomings over other solutions. However, for various reasons (mostly due to FCC limitations on their broadcast strength), FM transmitters are a flaky technology and I didn't hold out much hope that this one would be any better. If it worked, though, it would be a nice bonus.
Slim flip-phone design. Not exactly a feature that stands out anymore, but I've had chunky/clunky cell phones for so long that changing to a slim design would be nice.

SOLD! I purchased this cell phone about a month ago and I have to say that I love it. Some things are less than perfect, but overall it's an extremely solid phone. Obviously, as you've seen around here, the camera is at least passable. The MP3 player is a nice addition to the basic slim design and the FM transmitter is about as good as can be expected. I'm not sure the music package is going to change the way I listen to music in the car -- even the relatively simple interface for initiating FM transmission is a little too much work for a quick car trip (you also have to turn it back off when you're done) -- but I've found the external speaker useful in certain places where I wanted some background music and had no other sources and the FM transmitter has worked well on some longer car trips.

One feature that I'm a little unhappy about is the USB charging. I was under the impression that the USB cable was a standard USB --> mini USB cable similar to the kind found on most cameras. Turns out LG used a proprietary mini connector on the phone end, so I'll have to buy an extra cable to stash at work for an emergency charge instead of being able to use the USB --> mini USB cables I've got sitting around everywhere. It's not a big deal since it still charges from any USB port, but it would have been nice if they had used an existing standard on the phone side. Otherwise, job well done LG!

Photos: Cosmopolitan on the Canal Update

2008-10-17T15:25:00.005-04:00

If you stumbled upon this post looking for information about the Cosmopolitan fire on March 12, 2009, information and photos can be found here and here.

Another shot taken from my cell phone. Apologies about the quality on this one. It might be a little tough to make out but there some spindly steel frames along the canal level. Click on the photo for a larger version that helps to show them. They've actually been up for a while but I haven't had a chance to go take a picture.

Gear: The Camera Buying Decision

2008-10-10T15:33:00.003-04:00

It's been almost two weeks since I last saw my camera. I've been holding out hope that I would open a drawer or move a pile of things and find it sitting there. My hope is quickly fading -- at this point, it's probably gone forever.

On the one hand, it sucks that I lost a camera that I was accustomed to using and it further sucks that I have to spend money to buy a replacement. But, on the other hand, that camera wasn't perfect and this provides an opportunity to evaluate exactly what I liked and disliked about that camera so I can get something a little better this time. As a way of gathering my thoughts, I'm going to bullet point the pros and cons of my camera. For reference, this is the camera I had, a 2.5 year old Canon A75 (anybody seen a slightly beat up one of these around?).

PRO

Four AA battery compartment makes a nice grip
Four AA batteries provides long life between charges
Manual controls available at a level between point-and-shoot and high-end SLR
3.2 mega pixels was fine for my purposes
Has optical viewfinder (useful in bright outdoor situations when you can't see the screen)

CON

Tiny viewscreen (by today's standards)
Four AA batteries is too heavy
Four AA battery compartment makes grip that's a little tough to slip into your pocket
Shutter delay can be incredibly long, particularly in low light
Compact Flash not as popular anymore? (not a dead format, but it seems to be getting phased out in favor of smaller formats)

Anybody have any advice about features I should be considering on newer cameras (or features that are not worth paying for) or any stores around town that might be good for information gathering?

ABC News Live in Indy

2008-10-09T09:53:00.006-04:00

When Charlie Gibson shows up in Indy and wants to shoot World News live one block from where you live, you go check it out, right? You're damn right I did!

To give you a little background, ABC News has been shooting on location in Presidential battleground states this week. Rather unexpectedly, Indiana is in play this year so ABC decided to stop in Indianapolis on Wednesday while Barrack Obama was in town for a rally at the State Fairgrounds. They set up to shoot World News from the St. Clair bridge over the canal and shut down the street for a couple hours this afternoon. Here's what the bridge looked like when I stopped by after work and ABC was setting up for the news:

Later, after checking out what the Indianapolis scenery looked like on the ABC broadcast, I went back out to watch Charlie Gibson in person:

A small crowd of people had also gathered to watch the action (I was actually surprised how small the crowd was):

After Gibson was done with the news and had recorded dozens of lead-ins for commercials on the west coast, he came over to shake hands and talk with people:

Aside: I still haven't found my camera so these pictures were taken with the camera on my new cell phone (I might write a post about that at some point). It takes pretty decent outdoor shots, so I may try to take some pictures of projects using that camera until I figure out what camera to buy. The main drawback is a lack of image stabilization, as you can see in the last shot of Charlie Gibson.

Sorry for No Content

2008-10-01T16:34:00.005-04:00

Apologies about the lack of posts around here. On top of little time to take pictures recently, I also misplaced my camera over the weekend. Until I resolve that -- either by finding it or buying a new one -- there probably won't be much, if any, content here. Of course, if I do have to buy a new one, that would at least be fodder for a Gear post (albeit very expensive fodder).

Happy Birthday DIG-B!

2008-09-24T14:51:00.002-04:00

I was just looking back through old post ideas that I never completed and discovered that today happens to be exactly one year since I decided to start DIG-B. So, Happy Birthday to DIG-B and thanks to everybody that continues to stop by!

Photos: Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Photo 9

2008-09-19T08:04:00.002-04:00

Photos: Indianapolis Streetcar Rail

2008-09-18T15:48:00.005-04:00

I haven't had a chance to get out to take pictures recently so here's one from the vault. It happens to be from Ohio St. right in front of The Maxwell so it ties in well with my last photo post. While I was out on a tour of development sites with a group from Skyscraper City back in June, I noticed that as part of some curbside work they had ripped up the asphalt, revealing an old streetcar rail line. You can see the old brick road surface around it as well. I believe this section has been covered over again, but if you walk around this area of Ohio St., you can still see the rail lines peak out in several spots.

New DIG-B Layout

2008-09-10T21:17:00.003-04:00

So, obviously the new layout went "live" yesterday, and those with a keen eye will have noticed that I subtly tweaked other features over the last day or so as well. I think the photos look a million times better in this format and I hope you agree. Just to say again, the standard now is for photos to have a width of 640 pixels and clicking on the photo brings up a separate, larger image with a width of 1024 pixels.

Anybody have any comments, suggestions or scathing reviews they'd like to send my way?

Aside: my wife just started a new blog about her cooking, so here's a shameless plug to take a look and let her know what you think.

Photos: The Maxwell

2008-09-10T11:30:00.008-04:00

The Maxwell Facts:

Location: Northwest corner of Ohio St. and Park Ave.
Height: 5 stories, plus an underground residents parking level
Ground Floor: 1/3 retail fronting Ohio St., 1/3 retail parking, 1/3 residents parking
Residential Units: 105 (floors 2-5)
Developer: Kosene & Kosene
Project Cost: $24M

Project status as of September 9, 2008.

Looking Northeast from Ohio St.

Looking West on Ohio St.

Looking North at the center of the Ohio St. facade.

Looking East at the buildings next to The Maxwell.

Looking North on Park Ave.

The Northeast corner of The Maxwell.

Looking West on Miami St. (sorry about the darkness of this shot)

The stairwell treatment on the West facade of The
Maxwell (this also appears on the North and East sides).

Development: Tavern at the Temple Closes

2008-09-09T16:14:00.014-04:00

Just as the canal was welcoming a new restaurant to the area (Zing), I received word this afternoon that another canal restaurant is closing. Amanda Cravens has announced that Tavern at the Temple will cease operations after dinner tomorrow night (Sept. 10th).

This is very sad news, though perhaps not unexpected. I've had a handful of delightful meals there but they were never terribly full. I think they had the right location and the wrong restaurant plan. The outrageous success of Creation Cafe proves that people were more than ready to support a restaurant on the canal. Fine dining was probably not the way to kick off canal dining, however. In my opinion, a successful canal dining establishment needs to be one that caters to those out for a stroll on the canal or out enjoying a paddleboat ride as part of a day in downtown. You need to grab people off the canal, or at least entice the young professionals living in the area in some way, not hope for people to dress up and drive to your restaurant and look for on-street parking. The almost complete lack of signage doesn't help much either.

My guess is that the space won't stay closed for long and that we're likely to see another casual dining restaurant in there in the future. Perhaps a sports bar with a nice beer selection? Well, a beer geek can dream. . . .

UPDATE (9/10): Feed Me/Drink Me has some inside info about this closing. It appears that this is more of a management change than a closing of the restaurant. Obviously, I'm not sold on sticking with the same concept, but from a nearby resident perspective, I'm certainly not going to complain about keeping a fine dining restaurant in the area! I wish the new owners/management all the luck in the world.

Photos: St. Weyertech Building

2008-09-09T15:11:00.007-04:00

I'm not sure what to call this building. Most recently, it functioned as Section 8 housing under the name Weyerbacher Terrace Apartments, though it was originally built as St. Vincent Hospital in 1913. St. Vincent Hospital operated out of this building until 1974 when it moved to its current location on 86th St, after which the building was converted to federally subsidized housing. When Weyerbacher Terrace was forcibly closed in 2002, it fell into disuse and disrepair. It was subsequently sold by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development to the City of Indianapolis in 2004 for $10 and then to Ivy Tech Community College in 2006 for $1. Ivy Tech planned to rehabilitate the building and convert it to classroms, though there is some controversy over their current plans, as, due to technical difficulties with rehabbing the building to their desired use, they have instead proposed to demolish the building and construct a new structure specifically for modern classrooms.

Here's how the building looks as of August 2008.

Someone posted quite a collection of photos of the interior of the building last year on flickr, so be sure to check those out as well.

DIG-B Update

2008-09-08T11:21:00.007-04:00

Apologies for the lack of content recently. Things have been a little busy for me and I haven't had a chance to get out and take pictures for a while. I've also been working on a couple small but significant tweaks to the layout of DIG-B that I would like to finish up before I make any new photo posts.

The primary difference will be changing the width of the main column where posts are displayed. Since DIG-B has morphed into a very photo-centric blog, I feel that it's important to be able to display larger images. As a result, I'll be able to show pictures that are about 50% wider (and 50% taller -- for the geeks out there that results in images with 2.25 times as much area).

You may have also noticed that my pictures currently get displayed with jagged lines and other strange effects (also called aliasing). I'm tweaking the way images are displayed so that the blog will display alias-free images with 640 pixel width and you can click on the image for a version with 1024 pixel width. If that's too technical for you, just know that things will look a hell of a lot better and if you're on a slow connection, things should also load noticeably faster. I should be done with all the tweaks I'm working on sometime this week.

Welcoming Zing to Indianapolis

2008-08-29T14:35:00.018-04:00

Last night I had the opportunity to get an early taste of the food and beverages at the newest restaurant in Indianapolis, Zing. My prediction?

Zing will be a home run.

The menu is tapas/small-plate style with a focus on sharing. Indianapolis really only has one other option in this restaurant style in BARcelona Tapas, and they have a decidedly different take on it. Samples of about a dozen different menu options circulated and we tried almost all of them. Several different "pizzettes," calamari, mini burgers, and meatballs were all very tasty but particular standouts were the ahi tuna and bacon wrapped dates. Highly recommended.

The price point, concept and location are perfect. It's unique enough to be the kind of place that draws from a wide range, a destination restaurant. The location is ideal for drawing some IUPUI lunch business, as well as Indiana Government Center employees that have a short canal walk to Zing, not to mention the building itself has very high visibility on West St.

Most importantly, it has a hip feel and a relatively low price point ($7-11 for most plates) that will appeal to the young professionals that predominate in the nearby apartment complexes. That's key, in my opinion. You can have a great restaurant with good buzz that draws people for a time, but the people living closest to a restaurant -- the ones that will continue to frequent it after the buzz has worn off -- are your bread and butter. You better appeal to them, and I think Zing will do just that.

And of course, there's the draw of the wrap-around balcony. Some have worried that the street noise from West St. would be a distraction. Far from it, I thought it actually added to the lively atmosphere and reminded you that you were in a city. Yesterday, downtown happened to be hosting a trifecta of sporting events with the Fever, Indians, and Colts all starting games at 7pm, so the road was particularly packed around 6-6:30. On a typical night, traffic on West St. drops to a trickle after 6pm, so I wouldn't worry about it. Of course, if a little street noise bothers you, you can always duck inside where the brick walls block out any noise outside.

They have parking for 25 or 30 cars in their lot, with another 15 or so metered spaces on Indiana that are free after 6pm, with little or no demand from other businesses. Add the relatively dense (and getting denser) population within just a couple blocks and getting people into Zing shouldn't be a problem.

Dinner service officially starts at 5pm on Monday the 1st and lunch service is added the following week, Monday the 8th at 11am.

Unfortunately, my camera died after just two shots last night, but I'll provide them here at the end, paired with earlier shots, so you can see the effect that the final week of little details had on the upstairs area.

Photos: Cosmopolitan Update from the Canal Side

2008-08-28T07:11:00.008-04:00

If you stumbled upon this post looking for information about the Cosmopolitan fire on March 12, 2009, information and photos can be found here and here.

While the work on the Cosmopolitan is still largely focused on the Senate and Michigan corner -- they recently started working on more wood framing north on the Senate side of the project -- visible work is finally showing up on the canal side. These photos were taken August 27th.

Looking SE, with the downtown skyline in the distance.

Looking north from the Historical
Landmarks Foundation parking lot.

Looking down to canal level from the same location.

Looking north at canal level in front of
the Historic Landmarks Foundation.

Looking northeast from the same location.

The backside of the Senate/Michigan corner from the
Historic Landmarks Foundation parking lot.

Photo: Zing Puts on the Finishing Touches

2008-08-27T13:49:00.004-04:00

Word is that Zing is opening tonight for a big-wig "Ribbon Cutting Ceremony" and workers are busy finishing things up so it all looks nice. In particular, they're working on a staircase on the southern end of the wrap-around balcony (correctly predicted by thundermutt on an earlier post).

Photos: IU School of Medicine Research III

2008-08-26T08:23:00.006-04:00

Research III Facts:

Cost: $83.3M ¹
Location: Walnut St., between University Blvd. and Barnhill Dr.
Height: 7 stories ²
Floor Space: 254,000 sq.ft. (118 laboratories) ¹
Connections: directly connected to Research II and the Cancer Research Institute -- these three buildings together will have 500,000 sq.ft. of research space -- as well as the Clarian People Mover
Groundbreaking: October 2005 ¹
Expected Occupancy: early 2009

Rendering, looking NW, People Mover
over Walnut St. in the foregound

Looking NE

Looking NW

People Mover connection to the building

The walkway

Cornerstone 2009

Looking west along Walnut St., Cancer Research Institute in red
brick and the Riley Hospital Tower expansion in the distance.

Again, looking west with Research II in red brick at right
and Research III beyond the People Mover walkway.

¹Funding, size, groundbreaking information
²Emporis height information

Photos: Lucas Oil Stadium Public Tour

2008-08-25T15:51:00.003-04:00

I'm a little late with these, but with the first official (if preseason) NFL game being played in Lucas Oil Stadium last night, the timing seems appropriate. If you'd like to read a thorough analysis of the stadium from both an architectural and fan experience perspective, be sure to check out Jason's post over at Circle and Squares.

All of the these photos were taken during the public tour that took place on August 16th.

Photos: Inside Zing

2008-08-20T22:17:00.009-04:00

I got a chance yesterday to take a look inside Zing, the new restaurant coming soon to the corner of West and Indiana. While it's not quite complete and ready for the big dance, I was very impressed with the layout and detailing of the redesign. As far as I could see, there isn't a single detail left of Payton's Place, the former bar/restaurant that most recently occupied this building.

Looking around the inside, there are essentially four seating areas:

1. A first floor seating area in the point of the building.
2. An upstairs seating area around a large bar.
3. An almost private room at the southern end of the second floor.
4. The seating on the wrap-around second floor balcony.

I took the opportunity to probe the owners about their beer selection, so if you're curious about that, check out my post on Hoosier Beer Geek (there are also a handful of photos that don't appear here). If you're curious about the food angle, Susan Guyett had a piece in the Indy Star a couple weeks ago. In a couple words: small plates, $7-11.

Without further ado, here are the photos I took yesterday afternoon (as always, click on any photo for a larger view).

Ground Floor Seating

More Ground Floor SeatingThe StairsTop of the StairwellSeating Next to the Second Floor BarStanding at the Point, Looking South at the Second FloorThe "Almost Private" Room at the Southern End of the Second FloorMore of that RoomThe Outdoor SeatingMore Outdoor Seating!

Photos: Canal Gardens, Phase 1

2008-08-19T17:18:00.006-04:00

Canal Gardens facts:

Location: east side of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St., roughly between Drake and Ransom Sts. (the site backs up to the I-65 off-ramp at the DMLK Jr. downtown exit)
Number of Units: 8 townhomes in phase 1, up to 24 more units in future phases.
Height: Three stories
Listing Price: $280,000 to $397,500
Houses and retail buildings razed for this project: 5

A Rendering

The Real Thing

The context, looking NE

The context, looking SE

Juxtaposition with existing housing

Facade detail

Land cleared for future phases

Bike Life Photos: Street Names on the Sidewalks

2008-08-15T15:13:00.015-04:00

I've seen these kinds of sidewalk street markers in a handful of other cities and I've always thought it was a really cool idea. Looks like someone had the same idea in Indianapolis a while ago, though they didn't get very far with it. They're not exactly the same, but for some reason they remind me of old-school, tiled New York subway signs.

All of these signs are in the area around Fall Creek Pkwy. and 24th/25th Sts.
This last photo shows a sidewalk sign in relation to the intersection (strangely, the signs are oriented so you have your back to the street in order to read the street name). You'll also notice another example of those old Indianapolis curbs.

I should mention that I originally noticed these signs while I was on my "Bike Life" experiment last month. It's amazing what you'll notice around this city when you get out of your car.

Photo: The Cosmo's Crown

2008-08-14T13:29:00.006-04:00

If you stumbled upon this post looking for information about the Cosmopolitan fire on March 12, 2009, information and photos can be found here and here.

The frame for the corner peak on the Cosmopolitan just went up yesterday.

(Sorry for the quality. My camera doesn't seem to like hazy days.)

Photos: Fairbanks Hall Completion

2008-08-14T11:55:00.013-04:00

Fairbanks Hall appears largely complete. Its official opening is scheduled for September but from the look of the parking lot -- yes, unfortunately we have a brand new, enormous, gated surface parking lot to go with this building -- it seems that there are already quite a few people working there. Below is a look at the exterior. You can read more detailed information about the building and compare these photos to earlier construction photos here.

I'm not sure if there will be public access to the interior of this building but I'll see if I can get inside to capture some pictures in the future.