The Chatham Arch Question Gets an Answer
Posted by Eric McAfee in Neighborhoods, New Development on Jan 30th, 2017 | 34 comments
The time for Chatham Arch has arrived.
This Wednesday, February 1, at 5:30pm, on the second floor of the City-County Building, the Department of Metropolitan Development’s monthly agenda will include the applications for 855 N. East Street and 812 N. Park Avenue—the old Indianapolis Day Nursery Association building and more recently the home of the Todd Academy School. First announced by Kevin in November of last year, this is the same site upon which I wrote two lengthy articles called The Chatham Arch Question. Part I focused on the mismatch between historic preservation and...
New Downtown Plazas in Need of Connection
Posted by Kevin Kastner in Neighborhoods, Pedestrian, Transit on Jan 26th, 2017 | 26 comments
I’m a big fan of the new Transit Center downtown. It’s attractive and functional. And the connected public plaza is relatively attractive. Now, the city has finalized the second round of plans for another public plaza, across the street at the City County Building. The first time around, the winning proposal was going to bust the budget, so this one is more subdued:
In essence, this means that a plaza will be across the street from another plaza. This could have some decent potential, with one major exception: The aforementioned street. Washington Street is a 4 lane wide, one way...
The Chatham Arch Question, Part II: What Are the Consequences of Low Density Just a Mile from the Heart of Downtown?
Posted by Eric McAfee in Neighborhoods, New Development on Jan 11th, 2017 | 42 comments
In the first half of this two-part series I looked at the prevailing mentality articulated by some of the most influential members of the Chatham Arch neighborhood, evidenced by the Chatham Arch Neighborhood Association (CANA) and its near-unanimous opposition to the redevelopment of a long-vacant charter school site at 9th and East Streets, into a mix of townhomes, single-family, and apartments with retail. Essentially, CANA argued that this proposal’s density was out of synch with the character of the nationally-registered Chatham Arch historic neighborhood, which largely consists of modest...
UPDATE: Expected Timeline for Transit at the City-County Council
Posted by Kevin Kastner in New Development, Transit on Jan 9th, 2017 | 6 comments
After passing the referendum in Indianapolis with relative ease, the mass transit issue now moves to the City-County Council, which is first introduced tonight at 7 pm @ the City County Building. Here is the tentative schedule:
1/9–Introduced at council meeting and assigned to Rules & Public Policy Committee (7pm Assembly Room)
1/30Â at 7pm for public testimony to the whole council
2/1–hearing at Municipal Corporation Committee (5:30pm Room 260)
2/21–official advertised public hearing and vote by Rules Committee (5:30pm Room 260)
2/27–full council votes on final adoption...
New Proposal for Long-Delayed Hotel near Banker’s Life Fieldhouse
Posted by Kevin Kastner in Neighborhoods, New Development on Jan 3rd, 2017 | 21 comments
There’s been a hotel proposed for this property for at least a decade. Seriously. It popped back up again 2 years ago. Still, nothing has been built on this valuable surface lot at the corner of Georgia and Pennsylvania Streets. However, it’s a significant enough of a proposal that the latest iteration deserved a post all its own. The Indy Historic Preservation Committee has posted the renderings and site plan, which can be seen below:
I’m happy that most of the garage will not front the main streets, and that it will at least include street-level retail. Kinda sad that they...
