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

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

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

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

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

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.