Retail Ripple
French-style retail corridor coming to Northside

Stacy Kosene loves Paris.
And voila! She decided to bring some of it back to Indianapolis.
Kosene, the former owner of Philipe's Spa and Cosmetique on East 82nd Street, has rented an 8,000- square-foot space in Broad Ripple. There, in three separate buildings cupping a parking lot, Kosene is creating a retail courtyard a la French style.
French Quarters, opening in June, will offer a place for shoppers to eat, shop or just hang out.
It's the latest retail addition to the Broad Ripple neighborhood, home to one of the city's quirkiest collections of retail shops, art galleries, bars and restaurants.
Flanked by two other retailers, Kosene's store French Pharmacie will sell upscale antique furniture, home furnishings, clothing and accessories. RSVP, by local event planner David Jackson, would sell custom-made stationery, wallpaper, invitations and such. Martha Hoover's Counter Culture at Patachou will provide an eclectic cuisine with a smattering of Cafe Patachou favorites.
"There's a lot of new energy and lot of new ideas, and Broad Ripple is perfect to act as an incubator for us," Hoover said.
All three stores would overlook a courtyard, which now is an unkempt parking lot.
Broad Ripple has the kind of demographic that could support Kosene's concept for that high-end shopper, said Eric Hillenbrand, a retail real estate broker with Colliers Turley Martin Tucker.
"Based on the concept, I am not sure there's any other better place in Indianapolis to put that kind of a store," Hillenbrand said.
Proximity to the affluent Meridian-Kessler neighborhood is a bonus, Hillenbrand said.
"They (local residents) are probably more inclined to try something that's not typically a mall shopping destination," he said.
Broad Ripple is home to dozens of offbeat stores, from specialty music shops and secondhand clothing stores to independent bookstores.
The retail area attracts bargain hunters, counterculture types and high-end shoppers alike.
Kosene already has invested $800,000 in merchandise. Another $300,000 or so has been pumped into the building.
"From my traveling to France and the West Coast, I saw how the concept of lifestyle is important," Kosene said. "Putting clothing, home furnishings together, along with a place to eat, allows a place where people can enjoy spending time together."
Experts say nothing quite like it exists in the Indianapolis area.
"I am not familiar with any locations like that here," said Bill French, principal and vice president at Colliers Turley Martin Tucker. "The individuals involved all have a strong business background, and that's very important."
There have been experimentations with the concept in Florida and California.
"It certainly is a niche," said Britt Beemer, chairman of America's Research Group, a consumer behavior research and strategic marketing firm based in South Carolina. "But there's no guarantee of success. You just have to have people talking about it from the day you open."
Kosene is all set.
She started shopping for her store last year. She went to markets in France and California, building her inventory one item at a time. At French Pharmacie, shoppers can find various products from furniture to handbags at different prices. A Robert Rodriguez jacket will sell for $250. For the more affluent, there will be the $2,500 Balenciaga jackets, reminiscent of an Italian vintage design. The store also will carry the Loree Rodkin jewelry line that is often worn by diva Cher.
"Indianapolis is still untapped when it comes to fashion that people want," Kosene said. "They travel to get it."
Mall-based luxury retailers do offer upscale merchandise at centers such as the Castleton Square and Fashion malls. But there's a dearth of independent upscale boutiques, Kosene said.
French of Colliers Turley Martin Tucker agrees.
If the concept flies, Kosene plans to take it to Colorado and elsewhere. She has hired a branding professional to help her solidify the idea.

FRENCH QUARTERS AT A GLANCE

• Location: Westfield Boulevard in Broad Ripple, next to the Mid-Town Grill.
• Opening: June.
• Stores: Counter Culture at Patachou (cafe), RSVP (stationery store) and French Pharmacie (furnishing and clothing).
• Total square footage: 8,000.

ABOUT BROAD RIPPLE VILLAGE
• Population: 77,700 (2002 Census).
• Businesses: 3,500.
• Employees: 39,200.
• Households: 34,200.
• Boundaries: Kessler Boulevard on the south, Meridian Street on the west, White River on the north, and Evanston Avenue on the east.
• Household income: 50 percent earn $50,000-plus a year
• Education: 81.1 percent of residents have some college education or higher.

Source: Broad Ripple Village Association.

Actually, the eastside neighborhoods are very well-defined with little or no overlap. Highland Park isn't an official neighborhood, it simply refers to the area around the park. Holy Cross, Arsenal Heights, and Willard Park of Holy Cross are shown below. Maps are available online at: http://imaps.indygov.org/RegOrgs/. Just use the keyword search feature.

The NESCO (Near Eastside Community Organization) area, with boundaries from I-65/70 on the west, Washington St., Emerson Ave. and I-70 on the north, is comprised of many separate, discreet neighborhoods. Some that come to my head are: Grace-Tuxedo, R.T.M.T., Rivoli, Otterbein, Brookside, Brookside Bunch, Cottage Home, Forest Manor Park, Little Flower, Emerson Heights, Middle Eastside, Robson-Voorhees, Springdale, T.E.A.R., Windsor Park, and Woodruff Place.[/IMG]

Thing is, we've seen these things before, and the boundaries either keep shifting, or are just reported inaccurately. In your pics, Holy Cross Church isn't in the Holy Cross neighborhood.... It's kind of hard to accept that... Especially for those who own and bought in "Holy Cross" and for those properties in "Arsenal Heights" with properties touching Holy Cross Church property....

Not to mention the fact that the dominant neighborhood association around here is the "Highland Park neighborhood association" and includes people in both Holy Cross and Arsenal Heights.

http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=4787594



Mary Milz/Eyewitness News

Indianapolis, April 18 - You won't find any for sale signs outside the downtown post office, but it is a hot property, all three blocks of it, especially with the nearby stadium construction.

Mayor Peterson says it's property the city wants.

"I'd like to see the transit center go there and be connected either directly or indirectly to the new stadium and convention center. I think it's just a really good location for a multi-module transportation center," the mayor said.

The mayor says initially it would provide a much-needed transfer site for IndyGo. "Right now all the transferring gets done on Ohio and it's a disaster. It's too many buses and not the right kind facility for those type of transfers."

He says down the road the site would connect buses to light rail or other types of rapid transit planned for Fishers and beyond. A transit center might look like Charlottes with concessions and shops. Or it might be more of a pedestrian mall.

The mayor says the transit center would take up only a portion of the post office property. The rest of the space could be used for retail, parking or even residential development...

Still, Peterson stresses it's far from a done deal. "I think we're pretty far along in terms of the conceptual planning, but it's a real estate deal too, and we have to get the other parties on board. And the most important one is clearly the post office."

The mayor pegs the cost at between $20 and $30 million, adding the federal government has pledged to pay for most it. But there is a hitch. The city needs a firm plan by fall or it risks losing the funding. Peterson said it's not uncommon to "extend those deadlines if people are serious about the work and we are very serious about this transit center."

The remaining question is the future of the post office? The airport is one site that has been discussed. But no determination has been made.

Mayor Peterson says he would like to see the center open in two to four years, in keeping with the expected opening of the expanded convention center. Should the post office property deal fall through, the mayor says there are other options.

I wish they would reconigure IndyGo altogether. I keep writing to them that they need to change from a spoke route system to a system of crosstown routes.

you know if theyd take advantage of the quasi-offer that eli lilly and wellpoint have kicked around about helping to pay to move all railroad traffic out of downtown on to the belt line, then theyd already have a perfect and more central location for a light rail transportation hub. union station. now that would be perfect. one of the busiest and most beautiful rail hubs of the late 19th and early 20th centuries transformed into the most beautiful transit hub of the 21st century.

granted with the way theyve cut back union station since its heyday youd only have room for four lines (eight tracks), but that would be plenty. you could have an eastside to greenwood line, a fishers to airport line, a carmel to avon line, and a zionsville to brownsburg line - in order from south to north in the station, and then if theyd put indygo on a grid system intersecting the rail lines you could get people to within two blocks of anywhere they wanted to go in indianapolis.

you know if theyd take advantage of the quasi-offer that eli lilly and wellpoint have kicked around about helping to pay to move all railroad traffic out of downtown on to the belt line, then theyd already have a perfect and more central location for a light rail transportation hub. union station. now that would be perfect. one of the busiest and most beautiful rail hubs of the late 19th and early 20th centuries transformed into the most beautiful transit hub of the 21st century.

do you have more info on this?