Development: This 'n That

Three Mass Ave: the pit continues to grow. At this point, I think they're still just removing dirt and shoring up the pit walls. Very soon, we may see some concrete for the underground parking garage.

Cultural Trail: the Alabama St. paving is largely done, just some work left at the intersections. Signs indicating bike and pedestrian sides of the trail (and other information/directions) have been attached to the lights. If the weather clears up this week I may try to grab some pictures.

O'Malia's: the renovation work appears to be in the final stretch. The "wine room" where the cooking school used to be is really shaping up nicely. The temporary shelves have finally been removed, opening up the huge windows in that room (though I like the additional light, is this good for the wine?). An interesting paint job, very different than the rest of the store, has been added to the walls -- you'll just have to check it out. One thing that really pleases me about this renovation is that it hasn't been completely converted into a generic Marsh. There are elements of the "stock Marsh" but you can still tell it's O'Malia's.

Paramount Tower: if you missed the update below, the big news from Cory Schouten is that the Paramount Tower proposal is being moved from its original location on Illinois to the NE corner of Michigan and Capitol, directly across from the Gibson Building. The height has also increased from 11 to 16 stories and an on-site parking lot has been added to the proposal. This figure is included with the IBJ article:


The gap along Michigan St. is an old 3-4 story building that I believe is currently occupied. A 1-to-2 story building on the North St. side appears destined for demolition.

Legends District - SODO: a huge $480M project has been announced for 11 acres of downtown bounded by South St., Madison Ave., the CSX Railroad Line and Merrill St. This is very preliminary and many, many things need to fall in line for this to become a reality. Still, it represents one of the most exciting announcements for downtown in quite a while. The addition of urban-style big-box stores like Target, Best Buy and Dicks would be huge for downtown residential development. The absence of these kind of retail optons is one of the major gaps in downtown living that keep some people away. Here is a rendering, with Madison Ave. in the foreground and South St. at the far left:

Photos: 3 Mass Ave. Construction Update

3 Mass Ave is the newest infill project and possibly the last large project to ever be built on Mass Ave. It will be 10 stories tall, though it's designed to present as 6 stories with step-backs at each floor above that. We're not likely to see another 6 story building on Mass Ave in the near future, let alone a 10-story one. The length of Mass Ave from New York to 10th St. is now wholy contained within the Chatham Arch and Massachusettes Ave. Historical District. Though 3 Mass Ave was approved by city planners before that Historical District Plan was officially completed, this designation will likely preclude future construction of buildings this tall on Mass Ave.

No regulations officially eliminate the possibility of building tall, but the plan Recommendations note that most buildings along Mass Ave are in the 2-4 story range and the IHPC will likely ask all new construction to roughly maintain that height (e.g. the IHPC forced recent development 757 Mass Ave to reduce its height to 4 stories on the Mass Ave frontage and 5 stories on the College Ave frontage).

However, if any development location were to be given an exemption from this recommendation, 3 Mass Ave is it. The site sits at the extreme southern end of Mass Ave, just one block from One Indiana Square, the third tallest building in Indy at 36 stories. This building should help taper the Indy skyline as it drops from the core of downtown's tall buildings to the mostly low-rise Mass Ave area.

Here are a couple renderings to get us started:

The Mass Ave frontage:

The New York St frontage:

An overhead shot of the roof-top deck and some balconies:

And here are some shots of the site preparations currently going on: