Mark Woods: Indianapolis offers lessons on downtowning

[thelakelander]

I hadn’t been to Indianapolis in nearly a decade.

Once upon a time, I traveled there often to cover NFL games. And unlike the sportswriters who complained about that trip, I always kind of looked forward to it, partly because I spent much of the ’80s in Indiana.

At the time, John Mellancamp was singing about pink houses. A movie about Indiana high school basketball was playing in theaters. And on the television show “Cheers,” Woody Harrelson played a lovably naive bartender from Hanover, Ind.

In some ways, Indiana was like Woody Boyd, small town and proud of it.

In some ways, it still is.

But a lot has changed, especially in Indianapolis. And even in this economy, it’s still changing. When I visited, there was construction everywhere.

Indianapolis recently doubled the size of its convention center (which has more hotel rooms connected to it than any other center in the nation). And these days a three-block stretch of Georgia Street, leading from the center to Indy’s arena, is torn up.

The street is being remodeled into a boardwalk based on a plaza in Barcelona. It will have gathering spots, three sound stages and lots of heating elements â€" partly with the next Super Bowl in mind.

Key word: partly.

When the project was being designed, officials were “emphatic that it have usage well beyond the Super Bowl,” said Chris Gahl, vice president of marketing and communication for the Indianapolis Convention and Visitors Association.

This is but one example of $3 billion in recent downtown infrastructure. And it’s part of several decades of development. (My favorite piece might be White River State Park, home to museums, the NCAA Hall of Champions, an IMAX theater, a canal with gondolas and lots of greenspace for walking, biking and relaxing.)

The Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce visited Indy last year. Here’s hoping what they saw made a lasting impression. When we talk about our sprawling city, we debate whether we can afford to focus on downtown. Indianapolis decided it couldn’t afford not to.

“All neighborhoods are important,” Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard said in 2009. “But when it comes to driving the economy of our surrounding region and this great state, no neighborhood is more crucial and more productive than downtown Indianapolis. And I am committed to keeping it that way.”

It’s this kind of thinking that has taken a relatively plain piece of America â€" no mountains, oceans, etc. â€" and made it a place groups want to visit, businesses want to relocate to and locals want to live in.

“There’s a newness in Indianapolis, all methodically and strategically put in place,” Gahl said.

I’ll vouch for that newness. The place looks somewhat like I remember it, only with more to do and see. And with lots of people seeing and doing.

Full editorial: http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/455124/mark-woods/2011-09-28/indianapolis-offers-lessons-downtowning


Downtown Indianapolis Photo Threads Featured On Metro Jacksonville

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2010-oct-jax-chamber-headed-to-indianapolis-a-few-pointers

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2010-sep-the-clarian-health-people-mover

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2009-jul-elements-of-urbanism-indianapolis-2009

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2008-jan-roadtrip-indianapolis

[Overstreet]

Being the state capital with the state offices downtown helped.  THey started "renewing" downtown  back in the  70s.  He did say decades of development.

[thelakelander]

If we search hard enough, we can always find a reason why Jax can't enjoy a similar renaissance.  The funny thing is we started "renewing" downtown in the 1950s/60s with the clearing out of the wharfs and have been at "revitalization" non-stop since then.  The difference between the Indianapolis', Baltimores, Louisvilles, Austins, Charlestons and Jacksonville is that the other communities have generally stuck with a plan long term.  Trace our history and you'll find almost every time a new mayor comes in, a new plan follows that has nothing to do with the previous half implemented plan.  Thus, we've spent just as much money on revitalization as the other communities but we've constructed a Frankenstein with incompatible parts instead.

[Miss Fixit]

Lake, I may have missed this in Metro Jacksonville's earlier articles on Indianapolis, but how did that city fund their downtown projects?

[thelakelander]

Which projects in particular Miss Fixit?  Some, like the Clarian Health people mover, were privately funded 100%.

[comncense]

Why is it that I always hear about representatives from Jacksonville and the Chamber of Commerce taking these trips to other cities to study what these other cities are doing correctly, yet nothing ever changes here. It almost seems as though they are using the City's dime to take vacations to these places and the City isn't getting anything in return from these trips in knowledge or implementation.

[ChriswUfGator]

One of the first things that they did was to create extremely cheap day parking in the downtown.

Nooooooooooo...that just can't be. I have it on excellent authority that this could only create total "chaos."

[Doctor_K]

Why is it that I always hear about representatives from Jacksonville and the Chamber of Commerce taking these trips to other cities to study what these other cities are doing correctly, yet nothing ever changes here. It almost seems as though they are using the City's dime to take vacations to these places and the City isn't getting anything in return from these trips in knowledge or implementation.

Sadly, +1.

[fsujax]

Haven't  many of their main Downtown retail anchors closed recently??? Nordstrom and Borders, etc. Granted they are still light years ahead of us in Downtown development. I wonder what will happen to those empty store fronts?

[thelakelander]

Why is it that I always hear about representatives from Jacksonville and the Chamber of Commerce taking these trips to other cities to study what these other cities are doing correctly, yet nothing ever changes here. It almost seems as though they are using the City's dime to take vacations to these places and the City isn't getting anything in return from these trips in knowledge or implementation.

Personally, I believe most still overly complicate the issue known as DT revitalization.  The one thing all the successful places have in common is clustering complementing uses within a compact pedestrian scale setting.  There's multiple ways of getting there but that's the consistent thing we've still not picked up on.  This whole JTA Greyhound/JRTC disaster is a great example.  If leadership truly understood the issue of how the built environment can positively or negatively impact the pedestrian, they would have killed this thing years ago.  Instead, although some may have concerns about costs, all you'll hear is crickets when it comes to the real bull in the china shop.

If you want to save thousands of bucks in travel expenses and move forward with DT revitalization, apply these concepts to public policy and the design of every single public and private project within the environment you wish to see vibrant at a pedestrian scale setting.

clus·ter (klstr)
a. A group of the same or similar elements gathered or occurring closely together; a bunch.

com·ple·ment (kmpl-mnt)
a. Something that completes, makes up a whole, or brings to perfection.
b. The quantity or number needed to make up a whole: shelves with a full complement of books.
c. Either of two parts that complete the whole or mutually complete each other.

com·pact (km-pkt, km-, kmpkt)
a. Closely and firmly united or packed together; dense: compact clusters of flowers.
b. Occupying little space compared with others of its type: a compact camera; a compact car.
c. Brief and to the point; concise: a compact narration.
4. Marked by or having a short solid physique: a wrestler of compact build.

The JRTC fails because these things aren't occurring at the pedestrian scale. 

[fsujax]

I thought the Consultants hired by the FDOT for the JRTC understood urban design principles? guess not.

[thelakelander]

Haven't  many of their main Downtown retail anchors closed recently??? Nordstrom and Borders, etc. Granted they are still light years ahead of us in Downtown development. I wonder what will happen to those empty store fronts?

Probably nothing soon, given the economic recession.  Nevertheless, many big box closures (this isn't the type of retail that would be attracted to a JRTC) have been due to chain-wide bankruptcy related issues (ex. Borders, Circuit City, etc.) and those lured to markets that can't support them through the use of incentives (11 East Starbucks).  The Pittsburgh department store closures should serve as a lesson for Jacksonville.  There, major chains were lured in by five year offers of free rent and shut down as soon as the free rent period expired.

[thelakelander]

I thought the Consultants hired by the FDOT for the JRTC understood urban design principles? guess not.

Perhaps they do.  However, whoever is writing the check ultimately calls the shots.

[Ocklawaha]

The street is being remodeled into a boardwalk based on a plaza in Barcelona. It will have gathering spots, three sound stages and lots of heating elements â€" partly with the next Super Bowl in mind.

When the project was being designed, officials were “emphatic that it have usage well beyond the Super Bowl,” said Chris Gahl, vice president of marketing and communication for the Indianapolis Convention and Visitors Association.

Big deal! Jacksonville built a temporary bridge over Hogan's Creek and paved 200' feet of Monroe Street. Match THAT Indianapolis...if you can!

OCKLAWAHA

[thelakelander]

Here are some great pics of downtown Indianapolis:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=193059