Downtown Indianapolis is again becoming a hip and happening place to be, which has led to lots of new construction. There are tons of apartments Downtown now, all in the four-over-one style with a concrete main floor and wood frame upper floors. This growth kicked into gear well before the pandemic; it’ll be interesting to see whether it resumes or not. But the buildings are here regardless. The growth was so strong for a while that it expanded into the previously unfashionable south end of Downtown.

CityWay

I benefit from this, as I work nearby now. Some of the amenities, such as a CVS pharmacy, are useful to me. I popped in not long ago to buy a box of tissues for my desk.

Area sidewalks are brick, in this interesting multi-color pattern.

Brick sidewalk

The Aleander is a four-star hotel. Or so I hear, since I don’t stay in hotels so close to home. I did attend an event here once, and found the space to be very nice.

The Alexander

One old building remains in this area: this onetime livery stable, now home to the Indianapolis branch of Taxman Brewing. The first time I visited here, most of this construction hadn’t been started yet. Taxman was far enough away from the heart of Downtown that I wondered why they located here. They clearly knew what was to come.

Taxman Brewing

Olympus OM-2n, 40mm f/2 Zuiko Auto-S, Ilford HP5 Plus, LegacyPro L110 H (1+47).

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Comments

5 responses to “New construction in southern Downtown Indianapolis”

  1. Forrest Johnson Avatar
    Forrest Johnson

    That building you thought was a old high school was HARRY WOOD high school, on old south Meridian, south of South Street.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Indeed! A number of people have commented on it.

  2. Andy Umbo Avatar
    Andy Umbo

    I was rereading yesterdays entry and the comments as well as this today, and wonder if this development arc is every going to be somewhat successful? Most of the cities I’ve lived in have been funding and pushing downtown development for years, and they’re gotten developers to build, but many time, with unsuccessful results. People in the previous entry mentioned unsuccessful downtown mall developments, something I’ve seen happen in Milwaukee, Chicago, and Minneapolis. I can say that unless there’s a sporting event, or downtown festival, the three cities I mentioned above are ghost towns on the weekends, even with downtown apartments and condos for “moderns”. Plenty of downtown retailers closed on a Sunday.

    It’s pretty well proven that most downtown new apartment complexes in the mid-west seem to be taken up by young, post college, kids living 3 or 4 to a 1 or 2 bedroom unit, or empty-nesters, who want to get rid of house maintenance in retirement (if they don’t want to move someplace else for better weather). It’s been pretty well understood that once people’s kids get to school age, the wealth level these apartments have been built for flee to high performing schools in the suburbs, since it makes no sense for them to live someplace like downtown and pay for private schooling for all their kids. Midwestern sociology has yet to develop the large population of highly paid singles and childless couples like New York and the West coast, to fund these type of developments long term, and the developers may be getting close to exceeding the “churn rate” population of people coming and going in these projects.

    I just noticed to spur even more downtown construction, Milwaukee reduced their zoning requirements for having enough parking for each unit, now you can have less parking than units! Something I saw in Washington DC, which was a disaster! You know, most cities I’ve lived in, the points of interest for me, don’t even exist in the downtown area? The galleries, the jazz bars, and eccentric music venues, small weird shops: none of that stuff exists downtown.

    Time will tell if any of this works out…

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Somebody is making money or it wouldn’t have happened in the first place. But I do fear that apartments like these will be unwanted in 10 years.

      1. Andy Umbo Avatar
        Andy Umbo

        I was shooting pictures of a new development one time, and got the chance to quiz a CEO about this stuff, and he said: “Hey, if I’m not building, I’m out of business. I just need to put a public/private finance package together that pays my development and construction companies. After that, if it really isn’t successful, not my problem.” He still gets rich, even if his companies or developments go bankrupt. He intimated that the cities mayors and councils could be talked into these finance packages because they’re desperate for solutions. There’s actually no proof any of this will work out in the long term! Just because something worked out someplace once, doesn’t mean it has anything to do with working out in your city with your sociology! Desperate “vapor-think”…

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