BRICS
Through the magic of twitter, I discovered that Curt from Huston Street Racing was at BRICS the same night that I visited. He beat me to the punch with his post, but I won’t let that stop me. There is a lot to love with BRICS. It’s good ice cream, so it’s hard to go wrong, but there’s much more than that to the story. BRICS reuses the long abandoned Monon Train Station, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Historical Posts
Proposal for Bank One Operations Center
This proposal has been floating around the web and on Skyscraper City, but I have yet to post it here. This is the site plan: They are planning on reusing the frame of the operation center, because it was built with enough strength to withstand armored truck deliveries. The development group, Milhaus, has a relatively new blog that I have added to my links. I hope they can get started on this project soon. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Historical Posts
Broad Ripple Parking Solution: Circulator Bus
On April 1st, the Broad Ripple Facebook fan page posted about a new large parking garage located on College Avenue. The post was simply an April Fools joke, but it unleashed a barrage of excited replies. Naturally, I found this frustrating. I imagine that many of the people who are longing for a parking garage don’t want to actually pay for their spot. There are plenty of $5 lots around the area that have empty spaces, and I doubt if a garage would be much cheaper than that for an all-night spot. In addition, one can always park along the street to the south a few blocks away and walk. Instead of continuing to beat my head against the wall in battle that I can’t … Read entire article »
Filed under: Historical Posts
Babe Denny and South Meridian Street
According to the latest issue of Urban Times, South Meridan Street has begun to make a push to attract more visitors. They’ve added a new Farmers Market on Tuesday evening, which is a good idea to serve the people who can’t make it to the typical lunch-hour markets around the city. One look at the street configuration of the South Meridian district displays what the promoters are up against: The red line is the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Historical Posts
IMA Art and Nature Park
I may be about the last blogger to report on the new IMA Art and Nature Park. IBJ has a good run-down of the national coverage the park has received. I visited this park by riding my bike down the Canal Towpath, which is an underrated asset of this city. Perhaps it will become better known with this new prominent public space. I started my tour off at the Visitor’s center, which is … Read entire article »
Filed under: Historical Posts
Cultural Trail: Walnut Street thoughts
Yesterday, I finally had a chance to walk the newest section of the Cultural Trail along Walnut Street. Unfortunately, I was without my camera, but visuals will be better if I wait until the unveiling of the Glick Peace Walk. The Walnut Street portion of the trail has a different feel than the completed Alabama Street portion. The street itself is narrow and lightly trafficked by vehicles. It’s closed to autos now, but there still won’t be many when it opens back up. This helps to give the pedestrian a feeling of safety and ownership of the space. This also makes it a fine choice for the Peace Walk, which is intended to be a thoughtful exhibit. The structures along the street are sparse, but relatively close … Read entire article »
Filed under: Historical Posts
Jefferson Apartments
Recently, the city unveiled a renovation of Jefferson Apartments on East 10th Street, which is intended to become a home ownership incubator. The picture of the finished building in the article (which I can no longer find) intrigued me, so I made a mental note to stop by to see for myself. Google Street View actually allows 2 different views of the property. This one was taken before any renovation took place: Same corner, under … Read entire article »
Filed under: Historical Posts
Generic Facades Masking our History
The remodel of the former H&H Mart on Washington Street for this redevelopment project has unveiled a simple, but intriguing, historic detail. I almost couldn’t wait to get a good look at it for myself after I found out about it: Here’s the McOuat building next door, also undergoing renovation: With the sudden glimpse of detail that the city had been deprived of, one has to wonder what is hiding behind our other stone coverings at … Read entire article »
Filed under: Historical Posts
Fountain Square was Buzzing on First Friday
Fountain Square’s business district has come quite a long way since my first visit less than a decade ago. There is much more to the neighborhood than restaurants, but they are a decent indicator of the change that has taken place there. If I recall correctly, here is a list of the restaurants that were around on that first visit: Santorini’s, in the building across from Fountain Square TheatreFountain Square DinerA place called Something DifferentPeppy’sJ.S. Reutz Café (which has re-opened on Prospect 7 years later)That 936 Bistro place where Siam Square is now That’s all I can think of at this moment, but I’m sure I’m missing something. Regardless, listing all of the eateries that are in Fountain Square presently is almost a silly idea. There seems to be a … Read entire article »
Filed under: Historical Posts
Want More Urban Revitalization? Encourage Bicycles
The Indianapolis downtown success story has been well-documented. However, one area where we have struggled is in revitalizing historic buildings with little or no off-street parking. The Illinois Building and Consolidated Building are over 10 stories tall, and have been empty for years. The stretch of East Washington Street one block east of Meridian is still largely underutilized, even with new first level tenants. I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to believe that our town’s developers and investors look at these structures with a sense of dread and hopelessness due to the parking situation. It is likely that the parking situation for these places will not change. That means it’s time to get creative. Bicycles, obviously, take up much less space than cars. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Historical Posts
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