CityWay Phase Two Breaking Ground: the Pros and the Cons
Posted by Eric McAfee in New Development on Dec 31st, 2017 | 17 comments
Earlier this year (it’s still 2017!), Buckingham Companies broke ground on the next phase of CityWay, an expansive development south of the train trestle on land formerly belonging to Eli Lilly and Company.
The first phase (completed in 2012) features over 250 apartments, parking garages fully hidden from the primary streets, the Alexander Hotel, over 40,000 square feet for retail, and a partnership with the YMCA for a voluminous fitness center across from the Alexander—all on the south side of the tracks, primarily fronting Delaware and South streets.
This next phase has morphed...
New Proposed 2-Story Commercial Building in Meridian Kessler
Posted by Kevin Kastner in Neighborhoods on Nov 3rd, 2017 | 14 comments
Last year, the former dry cleaners at the southwest corner of 49th and College was demolished. Dry cleaners are notorious in their potential to be future brownfields, and that is certainly the case with the former one-story structure that used to be there:
Unfortunately, that brownfield can extend past the source of the pollution. The duplex to the south is now less safe to occupy with residents. A development group has bought the 2 properties in question, with the intent to clean up the contaminated soil, and to build a new structure. This structure will house a potential restaurant, with an upstairs...
Connecting People to Parks: Grassy Creek Trail
Posted by Kevin Kastner in Bicycling, Neighborhoods, Pedestrian on Oct 22nd, 2017 | 2 comments
One of the larger issues that suburban Indianapolis faces is lack of connectivity, especially for anyone not in a vehicle. One of the more interesting new efforts to change this is the recent addition of Grassy Creek Trail. It doesn’t look like much from the large scale view:
A zoom in to the northern trail head shows something rather unique, at least for a suburban trail: there is only a one-car parking lot:
There are likely close to 500 people living in the subdivision and apartment complex to the north here. And the one thing that this style of development has in spades is a lot of on-street...
Bus Rapid Transit Could be a Game Changer for Indy Neighborhoods
Posted by Kevin Kastner in Neighborhoods, Pedestrian, Transit on Oct 10th, 2017 | 31 comments
Indianapolis has largely succeeded in transforming its downtown from a sleepy no-man’s land to a place where people want to be. It’s not perfect, but it’s a downtown that can stand up among its peers. Throughout all of this focus on downtown, Indy’s neighborhoods have largely maintained a similar trajectory with regards to their built form for the past century. Broad Ripple and Fountain Square have probably seen the most new development, but almost every new structure has had to include a nod to off street auto parking. This raises the cost for development, increasing the...
Indianapolis is Losing its Bicycling Mojo-Guest Post by Austin Gibble
Posted by Kevin Kastner in Bicycling on Sep 26th, 2017 | 17 comments
Austin Gibble is a frequent commenter and Urban Indy fan, and has been gracious enough to share this blog post with us:
Indianapolis is Losing Its Bicycling Mojo
The United States Census Bureau released 2016 Journey to Work data this past week, and it does not paint a pretty picture for bicycling in Indianapolis. In fact, many cities that are notoriously bike-friendly, lost some riders. This includes Portland, OR and Minneapolis, MN. However, this isn’t necessarily true across the board. The average change for bike commuting throughout the United States is a decline of 0.4%, likely attributed to...
