November 2013 Wallpaper
Posted by Curt Ailes in New Development on Oct 31st, 2013 | 2 comments
November 2013’s wallpaper is the property located at 1352 N Illinois. As reported by Urban Indy’s own Kevin Kastner last week, an effort is underway to rehab the building and bring 63 residential units into the fold. The particularly inspiring point to take away is the planned 0.65 parking spaces per unit that if successfully implemented, this site will bring with it. This is a worthy subject of November’s wallpaper! Enjoy
2560 x 1600
1280 x 853
1280 x 1024
1366 x...
1352 Illinois Street approved for Apartments
Posted by Kevin Kastner in New Development on Oct 24th, 2013 | 8 comments
Apartment conversions have to be among the most exciting trends for urban advocates, especially when the building that is being reused has been vacant for a long period.  That trend continues with this month’s approval (page 40) of 63 residential units at 1352 North Illinois Street.  This proposal asks for less than one dedicated parking space per unit, which is also nice to see.
Here are the site plans and elevations:
The building currently has attractive details at the Illinois street-level:
The near-northside remains pocketed with nearly empty former factories or warehouses with...
Amtrak Hoosier State Saved, Now What?
Posted by Curt Ailes in Transit on Oct 18th, 2013 | 11 comments
In case it has escaped notice, earlier this week INDOT struck an agreement with Amtrak to preserve Amtrak’s Hoosier State service for a year with the possibility of extending it under the same terms for an additional 4 months. Â If the Hoosier State service had been cancelled, one of a number of short Amtrak routes across the country set to expire this month if states did not pick up the tab for their operation, the event could have spelled doom for long range passenger rail service for Indiana. The rhetoric goes that it is much easier to improve a service than it is to resurrect a dead...
BRT or Rail for the Green Line?
Posted by Curt Ailes in Transit on Oct 17th, 2013 | 24 comments
Polarization: A division into two opposites. One could not find a better manifestation of this definition than the case of the Green Line, the proposed rapid transit line between Indy’s NE side and downtown. One might conclude the division is between those who think we shouldn’t build this line at all and those who do (although, that would be a great guess). No. What I describe are those who think that if we do build it, the vehicle mode should be Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) or Light Rail Transit (LRT)
At the heart of this debate seems to be a disagreement over the associated costs and benefits...
Hotel Broad Ripple
Posted by Kevin Kastner in Neighborhoods on Oct 14th, 2013 | 4 comments
Construction has quietly been underway at Hotel Broad Ripple, which is located on Westfield Boulevard, and set to open by spring of 2014. Â Exterior work appears to be mostly finished, as I was able to see on Friday:
This project is downscaled quite a bit from their original vision first put forth in 2010, although the final product does still seem attractive. Â It will be nice to have an option for visitors to stay in the neighborhood without needing to hop in a cab or driving to another part of town, and I’m glad to see that it is a locally...
