DIG-B

Photos: Indianapolis Cultural Trail North Corridor Update

2009-06-24T20:07:00.011-04:00

These photos show construction of the North Corridor of the Cultural Trail, specifically Walnut St. between Senate Ave. and Meridian St. Photos taken Saturday June 20th.

Looking East from Senate and Walnut (the Central Canal is one block to the West).
The Cultural Trail will occupy the entire street bed between the Canal and
Capitol, though vehicles will NOT be restricted from driving in this section.

Looking South on Senate, showing the future curb bump-out.

Looking Southwest from Capitol and Walnut.

Looking West from Capitol and Walnut (Zesco at left).

Looking East from Capitol and Walnut. Between Capitol and Meridian, the Cultural Trail will be on a raised median at the center of Walnut. Vehicle traffic will be divided to either side of the trail.

Looking East from Illinois and Walnut.

Same location as the previous photo, capturing the glory of the Scottish Rite Cathedral.

Looking South on Capitol, showing the curb bump-out.

Looking North from Meridian and Walnut. This will be the entrance
for westbound vehicles on this section of Walnut.

Looking West from Meridian and St. Clair.

Photo: The Many Architectural Styles of Methodist Hospital

2009-06-09T17:50:00.001-04:00

Like many older hospitals, Methodist Hospital has been added onto again and again and again over the years with very little regard to making the overall structure cohesive in any way. This particular shot is looking due south from Employee Parking Garage 3. How many architectural styles do you see?

Photo: Indianapolis Skyline from the Northwest

2009-06-08T20:43:00.010-04:00

Walking down Indiana Ave. the other day, I was drawn to this view of the skyline with the new One Indiana Square facade in there (the blue one second from left). I find the new facade to be rather boring and monotonous from a distance but considerably more interesting up close. It definitely adds an element of coolness to the skyline in a shot like this that displays some depth. It's a nice pair to the AT&T 220 Building (the blue one at center) -- eventually a trio with the JW Marriott hotel under construction.

As always, click on the photo to see a higher resolution version.

Cafe Zuppa Opens Tomorrow

2009-06-07T19:16:00.004-04:00

Cafe Zuppa, the new restaurant occupying the former Gabriel's location in the Chamber of Commerce Building (320 N. Meridian), officially opens tomorrow for breakfast and lunch. Stop by and welcome them to downtown!

Photos: Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Photo 13

2009-05-05T08:24:00.003-04:00

A before shot, the entrance to the alley connecting Mass Ave. to College Ave.:

An after shot, with the unique piece of "multisensory artwork" by Sean Derry called Chatham Passage.:

Photo: Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Photo 12

2009-04-14T09:04:00.003-04:00

If you have time, check out the Northeast Corridor Construction Kick-Off today. The event begins at 1:30pm at the location pictured here, the alley behind Chatham Tap and Scholars Inn on Mass Ave. In case of inclement weather, the event will be held across the street at the Firefighters Union Hall, 748 Mass Ave.

Photos: Cosmopolitan on the Canal Cleanup

2009-04-12T00:04:00.000-04:00

October 7, 2008

March 12, 2009

April 11, 2009

Photos: JW Marriott Indianapolis Construction Update

2009-04-11T17:04:00.003-04:00

All photos taken 4/11/09.

Photo: Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Photo 11

2009-04-09T07:31:00.001-04:00

A pre-construction shot of Walnut St., looking east from the intersection of New Jersey St. The Cultural Trail will be a combined trail (pedestrians and bicycles share) on the left side of the street at this location.

Photos: Southeast Corner of West and Washington

2009-04-08T13:00:00.004-04:00

I was going through some photos from a couple months ago and found a couple of this open lot at the corner of West and Washington. With 1626 hotel rooms going in across the street -- and all the wallets and purses that will be staying there -- how long will this lot stay empty? I can't confirm, but I assume the State of Indiana owns this lot and has it earmarked for State office expansion. With the convention mega-complex to the south of this location, though, it might be in everybody's best interest for the State to give up this lot and consider expanding north from the Statehouse if they need space in the future.

Looking East, with Washington St. and the Indiana Government Center on the left.

Looking West, with West St. at the top and the JW Marriot beyond.

Photos: Multimodal Node

2009-04-07T07:38:00.005-04:00

Near the southern terminus of the Monon Trail at 10th St., there's a pretty interesting criss-crossing of transportation systems. Consider this list:

Interstate Expressway - I65/I70 Interchange
Freight Railraod - CSX Railroad
Urban Street - 10th St.
Urban Sidewalk - 10th St.
Rail-to-Trail Recreational Path - Monon Trail
Future Urban Bike and Pedestrian Path - Northeast Corridor of the Indy Cultural Trail
Proposed Commuter Rail - Northeast Corridor

There are so many systems it's difficult to capture them all in one photograph. Here's my best attempt, looking south across 10th St.:

You can see the CSX line and I65/70 at the upper corners, 10th St. and its sidewalks in the middle, the Monon Trail at lower-right where it will meet the Cultural Trail (it will head to the right off the photo) and finally, I'm standing on the proposed commuter rail route, which would go due south over 10th St. on a bridge at this location.

This photo doesn't capture the all the systems but I've included it because I think it's a better photo overall:

Turning around looking north, you see the proposed route for a commuter rail line serving Indy's northeast suburbs out to Noblesville, the former Nickel Plate Line.

Just to the right of the route sits this little building. I'm not sure what its purpose was, but it was certainly related to the rail lines that passed by this location.

Photos: Signs at Buggs Temple, Finally

2009-04-06T14:57:00.005-04:00

It's not like anyone is going to miss the restaurant action on the canal side, but I have to think that branding the building on that side would help business as well.

Photo: Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Photo 10

2009-04-05T17:51:00.005-04:00

Looking east on North St. from the corner of Alabama St., the first signs of construction on the Northeast Corridor are visible.

Video: Cosmopolitan Cleanup

2009-03-14T08:46:00.002-04:00

Video and photos from March 13th. Once you start playback of the video, hit HQ in the lower right corner for higher-resolution video.

For comparison to that last shot, here's the closest angle I've got from my pre-fire collection.

Indianapolis

Photos: Cosmopolitan Fire Update

2009-03-12T12:47:00.007-04:00

These first three were taken around 8am on my way to work.

From a moving People Mover.

The rest of these were taken around 11:45am on my lunch break.

See early-morning fire photos here and a February 10th construction update here.

Photos: Cosmo Burning

2009-03-12T06:30:00.009-04:00

The canal side of the Cosmopolitan apartment complex almost completely burned to the ground this morning. As of this writing, the fire is not out at the center of the complex, but the Senate side still appears to be standing. News is reporting that 125 fire fighters were called to the scene at 3:30am.

See earlier photos of this project under construction here.

Photo: Indianapolis Skyline from the Southwest

2009-03-05T18:05:00.002-05:00

Photos: The Pedestrian Plan at Watermark Townhomes

2009-02-17T17:37:00.003-05:00

North St. near Senate Ave., at the entrance to Watermark Townhomes.

Photos: Urban Public Utilities

2009-02-13T12:30:00.010-05:00

I believe this relatively new building on Illinois near St. Clair is part of Indy's chilled water system (I'm sure thundermutt knows for sure!). My question: if you're going to build a public utility structure on an urban street, do we give them credit for at least attempting to gussy it up? Or does this still fall short?

Photo: New York St. Bike Lane

2009-02-11T07:23:00.002-05:00

I'm unsure about the purpose of this sign but I noticed it at the Southeast corner of New York and West over the weekend. It's clearly oriented to the sidewalk so my only thought is that it's a warning to pedestrians that the area immediately beyond the curb is the future New York bike lane -- look closely on the pavement and you'll see "BIKE LANE" spray painted. If so, however, the sign is oddly offset well to the right of the New York pedestrian crossing (off the left edge of this photo).

Photos: Cosmopolitan on the Canal Construction Update

2009-02-10T07:44:00.005-05:00

If you stumbled upon this post looking for information about the Cosmopolitan fire on March 12, 2009, information and photos can be found here and here.

The first photo in this set was taken January 28, 2009. The remainder were taken February 8, 2009. Previous construction updates and renderings can be viewed here.

On the day of the Great Indianapolis Snow Storm of '09.
Probably shouldn't have been out driving.
Definitely shouldn't have been taking pictures out my windshield.

Looking North along the canal from the Michigan/Indiana Bridge.

Looking East at the canal-side courtyard space.

Looking Northeast from the Historic Landmarks Foundation loading loop.

Looking Northeast at the Michigan frontage. The brick facade is being
attached underneath the plastic sheeting but nothing is visible yet.

Looking West at the Senate frontage.

Looking Northwest at the Senate frontage.

The parking garage entrance along the Senate frontage.

The effect on the Michigan streetscape looking West.

The effect on the Senate streetscape looking South.

Photos: JW Marriott Indianapolis Construction Update

2009-02-08T14:44:00.004-05:00

These photos were taken in, around, and on top of the State of Indiana Washington Street Parking Garage on February 8, 2009.

Photos: Indiana Parking Garage

2009-02-02T07:50:00.000-05:00

Location: 145 E. Market St.
Built: 1930 (oldest parking garage in Indianapolis)
Height: 8 Floors

Development: The Waverley

2009-01-30T07:45:00.013-05:00

I intended to take a series of photographs to document this project but The Waverley complex is controlled access so that's a bit difficult unless I pull a No Promise of Safety. Here's a look at the eastern edge of the complex with the Indianapolis Skyline in the background.

You can just barely see Georgia St. at the left edge of the photo with Conseco Fieldhouse peaking through the tree branches. The project was to front East St. at Georgia St. with a small retail building called The Waverley Commons. Those plans have either been postponed or canceled, as the complex is done and there's no sign of work to come along East St. Here's a rendering of the proposed retail component:

That rendering is pretty uninspiring, so perhaps we're better off that it wasn't built. A design that uses the entire East St. frontage, with ground floor retail and 2-4 stories of residences above -- they're already in the business of renting apartments, so why not maximize the land use? -- would be much more appropriate. As for the residential component, I think it's a solid project. Most importantly, the developers gambled on a forgotten section of downtown between the Wholesale District and Fletcher Place. While it isn't terrible dense, they made appropriate use of the land. Here's the final siteplan (the top photo was taken from the lower-right corner, with Georgia St. at bottom, East St. at left and the unbuilt retail section at the lower-left):

A very unfortunate decision was made to eliminate Park Ave. as a public street on the eastern boundary of the complex (it would have been at the edge of the parking lot in the top photo, right where the wooden fence is). If this complex had embraced the surrounding streets -- East, Park and Georgia -- rather than gating itself off from the city, I think it could have been a great project. As it is, The Waverley has added 164 apartments to the tax rolls of Center Township as well as hundreds of residents that can help to revitalize this area. If we finally see some development on Virginia between the train tracks and South St., The Waverley will certainly have been a driving force. For now, its safe to call this a good first step.

Photos: The View from the 8th Floor of Riley Towers 2

2009-01-28T12:31:00.003-05:00

My wife and I lived in Riley Towers until 2005. These were taken the day we moved out.

From the archives (May 2005).