Bloomington, IN Development News

[ndrwmls10]

I think it fits the character of Bloomington. It's very much becoming like Portland, Oregon. We are never going to be a Chicago or New York, but we can be are becoming rather dense. With highly used public transportation and walk ability. Eventually we'll hit critical mass and buildings will go higher, but a 3-5 story buildings are fine.

[HoosierInBTOWN]

Originally Posted by ndrwmls10

I think it fits the character of Bloomington. It's very much becoming like Portland, Oregon. We are never going to be a Chicago or New York, but we can be are becoming rather dense. With highly used public transportation and walk ability. Eventually we'll hit critical mass and buildings will go higher, but a 3-5 story buildings are fine.

You're absolutely right. I just still hate the courthouse and Smallwood being right next to each other. Smallwood looks like a modern jail, and IMO is the worst looking building downtown, next to the other worst looking building.

Smallwood should have been a 12-16 story building instead of this block long wall of brick downtown. It is absolutely hideous, and I loath it.

With the county having it's restrictions on land use, the only way for the city to build will eventually be up, and that's nice. I just wish it was happening already. Patience was never my virtue.

[jkramb]

Anyone feel like taking some pictures of the new IU construction?

[HoosierInBTOWN]

Originally Posted by jkramb

Anyone feel like taking some pictures of the new IU construction?

Give me about a week or two to get around town and see what I can find. There's plenty going on!

Construction started on the Kelley School last week. Fee Lane and 10th St are blocked off in certain areas as the new building is going right up to the sidewalk. The entire area looks like I imagine it looked like when the B school was originally built.

Baseball and softball complex are underway. And they are replacing all the crosswalks through 10th Street as well. New light poles and such.

[HoosierInBTOWN]

Patterson Pointe on the corner of West 3rd and Patterson is now under construction. Groundwork began yesterday on the site.

[HoosierInBTOWN]

Pictures to be posted soon. Took some, but not all, pictures this past weekend. Will do them in installments.

[HoosierInBTOWN]

Here's the beginning of work on the Kelley School of Business. I will have more photos later.

[Indyman]

http://blogs.music.indiana.edu/newbu...r-is-poured-2/

Some pics of the final floor. I am living in Bloomington for the summer doing research, so I can attempt to take photos of these sites.

[HoosierInBTOWN]

Another new apartment complex to complete the block. Good infill development. Now time to start working on the other side of the street!

Downtown apartments to complete block of Morton Street
H-T report
June 12, 2012, last update: 6/12 @ 10:01 pm

The last vacant spot on the east side of Morton Street between 10th and 11th streets will be filled by a five-story apartment building.

The Bloomington Plan Commission on Monday approved plans for the 20-unit, 27-bedroom Morton Grads Apartments proposed by developer Elliott Lewis, whose company also developed the nearby Morton Mansions and the Village at 10th and College, and is building 10th and College Horizons immediately next to the site.

According to plans reviewed by the commission, Morton Grads Apartments will be between Horizons and 5 North Townhomes, which is at the corner of 11th and Morton streets. The design will be similar to Morton Mansions at the southeast corner of 10th and Morton and feature a tall, tower-like accent at one corner, according to the plans.

The apartment will be a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units, with a fifth-floor “penthouse” apartment set back 57 feet from the front of the building. According to information submitted by the developer, the target demographic for the building is graduate students.

The developer plans to provide 11 off-street parking spaces in a parking garage on the first level of the building and accessed by an existing alley on the south side of the structure. The main pedestrian entrance to the building will be on Morton Street, and five bicycle spaces also will be provided.

The site now is being used as a staging area for construction of the Horizons building. No timetable for construction was given.

Copyright: HeraldTimesOnline.com 2012




http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/sto...ton-street.sto

[HoosierInBTOWN]

Finally, groundbreaking for the new bus hub should happen at some point this year. I hope, they've been talking about this for years! Here are 2 articles related to the bus system in Bloomington:

New bus hub/emergency dispatch center still in the works
By Kasey Husk 331-4243 | khusk@heraldt.com
June 14, 2012

A new $8.8 million downtown transit facility several years in the works is expected to be open in late 2013.

Bloomington Transit and city of Bloomington officials are currently working with Indianapolis-based architectural firm Parsons Brinckerhoff to craft the “schematic design” for the new facility, which will be built at the corner of East Third and South Walnut streets. The main floor of the facility will be for the new transit hub and will be funded by Bloomington Transit, while the second floor — which will be paid for by the city — will house a new 911 emergency dispatch center.

Lew May, BT director, said he expects a final design to be available by July or August, and expects ground to be broken by late this year or early 2013, with completion expected in 2013.

The transit facility has been under discussion at least since mid-2009, but the project was delayed by indecision about its design and later by a decision to partner with the city to include the emergency dispatch center.

Copyright: HeraldTimesOnline.com 2012
http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/sto...-the-works.sto

Increased ridership, insurance changes helping Bloomington Transit cope with higher fuel costs
By Kasey Husk 331-4243 | khusk@heraldt.com
June 14, 2012

Bloomington Transit remains on solid financial ground even as dramatic increases in fuel and insurance costs create fiscal challenges, and uncertainty surrounds its future funding officials say.

The transit organization has made changes to cope with the increased costs, most notably going to partially self-funded insurance and investing further in hybrid vehicles, and for now, “things look pretty good for 2013,” according to BT Director Lew May.

However, May says that looming federal legislation that could affect Bloomington Transit’s future funding makes planning farther ahead difficult.

“We’ve been fortunate that our revenue streams have been stable, so we’ve not had to cut services in recent years,” May said. “We’ve not increased fares for a while now, and hopefully we can continue, assuming that our revenue sources remain stable.”

Insurance costs

Bloomington Transit saw some increasing revenues last year — thanks at least in part to a 4.5 percent increase in ridership on city buses in 2011 compared with 2010 — but at the same time had to cope with a 35 percent increase in fuel costs over 2010 figures, according to a recent audit by the State Board of Accounts. That change was the biggest increase the transit department faced in 2011, according to Bloomington Transit Controller Christa Browning.

In 2010, meanwhile, the transit agency had seen a 67 percent increase in its health insurance costs, just one year after accepting a roughly 30 percent increase in its costs.

To combat those rising insurance costs, in May 2010 Bloomington Transit opted to go partially self-funded for its insurance. It is now responsible for the first $30,000 in health insurance claims an employee racks up, then has a “stop-gap” insurance policy that will cover any additional costs.

“When you are fully insured, your premiums are based on your actual experience: how many claims, what’s the dollar amount of the claims,” May said. “And so, based on our experience, our premiums continued to escalate year after year but (because of) that magnitude of increase, we had to look for other alternatives, and one of those was to go partially self-funded.”

The change has saved Bloomington Transit about $120,000 total between the second half of 2010 and in 2011, according to the state audit. In 2011, the employee group had “a relatively good year in terms of medical claims costs compared to 2010,” May said. Between that “good year” and the savings using the self-funding approach, Bloomington Transit’s average monthly medical claims were $34,152 in 2010 versus $26,294 in 2011.

Fuel prices, ridership rise

Fuel, meanwhile, accounts for between 10 and 15 percent of Bloomington Transit’s annual budget, and the transit organization is “extremely sensitive” to price increases. Going from paying an average of $2.307 per gallon of diesel fuel in 2010 to $3.116 per gallon in 2011 was a serious hit to the budget.

The rising fuel costs account for a 35 percent increase in the materials and supplies line of the budget, with Bloomington Transit paying $1,467,556 in 2011 versus $1,087,780 in 2010, according to the audit.

Bloomington Transit has ordered two more hybrid vehicles to add to its fleet of 38, which already includes six hybrid buses. The hybrids, which use 25 to 30 percent less fuel that their traditional counterparts, are expected to be delivered late this year or early next.

May notes, however, that increasing gas prices are “a double-edged sword” for Bloomington Transit. He said it “hurts us from a budgetary standpoint but it brings us additional ridership,” as gas costs encourage more people to explore public transportation.

In turn, more riders do bring Bloomington Transit more funding, May said. Fare and advertising revenues were up 3 percent in 2011 compared with 2010, in large part because the transit system’s fixed-route ridership rose from about 3.24 million in 2010 to 3.39 million in 2011.

The increase continues a trend that began in 1984, when Bloomington Transit provided just 350,000 rides. That number has increased every year since.

“There aren’t many transit systems that have this kind of track record in terms of ridership growth, over a period of 27 years like this, where you’ve had almost a 10-fold increase in ridership,” May said. “It’s something that we’re proud of, but most importantly it shows the support that the community has given to Bloomington Transit and their willingness to use the service in increasing numbers, year after year.”

Future funding

While May says funding appears solid for 2013, he cautions that his assessment is based on what they know now and “assuming revenue sources don’t change.” The uncertainty, he said, comes from proposed changes to the way public transit is funded at the federal level and existing changes at the state level.

For one, May notes that Congress has failed to pass a new transportation authorization bill since 2009, instead operating on years of extensions. If it does not pass another bill soon, funding will be contingent on yet another such short-term extension.

Members of Congress, particularly those in the House of Representatives, have also suggested “decoupling” public transit funding from the motor fuels tax, which public transportation organizations currently receive a portion of. Instead, such proposals would move public transit funding to be part of the general fund, which he describes as “more of a discretionary funding program (that) is more easily cut compared to having dedicated funding coming in through the motor fuels tax.”

At the state level, meanwhile, public transit funding has already been moved to the general fund rather than being funded by a portion of state sales tax, May said. Although public transit hasn’t seen cuts yet, he fears that it will be easier to do so now.

“Fifty-eight percent of our revenue comes from state and federal sources combined,” May said. “Fifty-eight percent of our funding has those question marks with it there, so it’s tough for a transit system to plan ahead.”

Copyright: HeraldTimesOnline.com 2012
http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/sto...fuel-costs.sto

[HoosierInBTOWN]

Did a tour around campus last night while waiting on my significant other to get finished with work and here's an update on what I found. I do have pictures, I just haven't been able to get around to put them up, but here's the update:

The baseball/softball complex has groundwork going on, installing drain work, sewers, etc. Stadiums look to start rising in the next month or so, but we'll see!

Business school has wrecked Fee Ln. It's down to one lane right there as the new building is going to come all the way to the corner of the street. However, all the rock looks to be coming out and work is clearly on the way... just a matter of time before a building starts to emerge.

Both the apartment complex on 3rd and the Music Studio building are getting accented with their classic IU limestone on the outer portions. I really don't know how they're going to have the apartment complex ready for the Fall, as it looks like there is a ton of work to go (windows have not been put in, steel is still visible, etc)... but I was never good at estimation, so should be ready to go. Music building won't open until next summer, however.

The new dorm on Rose Avenue is beginning to rise out of the ground, hard to tell how big it's going to be, as it doesn't look like they're doing much work outside of one little portion. Still need to get pictures of this.

Finally, they are putting new stoplights up down 10th St. Getting rid of the ugly steel poles and replacing them with black ones. Now they need to replace the rusty light poles on the street and it will be looking like a new campus. The only problem with the new lights is that they now string across the street instead of hang from one pole. Not a huge deal, just one aesthetic thing that I liked about the old poles.

[ndrwmls10]

Anyone notice that they've begun development on the land that will be the Tech Park, behind Station 11. It's a huge chunk of land and it's not even half of what will be the Tech Park.

Here's the whole park:

[ndrwmls10]

Found a site plan for the area that is currently being developed. It's from 2007, so I don't know if it's the current design.

[HoosierInBTOWN]

Yeah, I've got pictures of the work going on. I still haven't made it around to posting them... been busy trying to move.

[HoosierInBTOWN]

I wish there was a building downtown tall enough that I could take an aerial photo of the area to give people more perspective. This is a massive development that will hopefully change all of downtown for the better... more workers to eat, shop, live, etc. Won't be as student based. Should be nice. That map above doesn't even show all the new buildings already built on Morton Street from 10th Street northward.

[HoosierInBTOWN]

Here is a blog on the new Hodge Hall (Kelley School of Business). Shows the progress, week by week, that they've been making on digging right now.

http://kelleyschool.blogspot.com/

[Indyman]

Originally Posted by HoosierInBTOWN

I wish there was a building downtown tall enough that I could take an aerial photo of the area to give people more perspective. This is a massive development that will hopefully change all of downtown for the better... more workers to eat, shop, live, etc. Won't be as student based. Should be nice. That map above doesn't even show all the new buildings already built on Morton Street from 10th Street northward.

I was hoping for the same, so I went inside the business school and you can actually get great views of the site from the higher floors.

[HoosierInBTOWN]

Sare and Rogers housing developer addresses concerns
Neighbors withhold judgment on plan for 143 high-end rental homes on 50-acre estate
By Kasey Husk 331-4243 | khusk@heraldt.com
July 3, 2012

A handful of neighbors who gathered to hear about a proposed development of 143 high-end single-family rental homes at Sare and Rogers roads seemed to be concerned but generally reserving judgment on the proposal Monday.

The neighbors and some elected officials asked plenty of questions at Monday’s meeting with representatives of Texas-based developer Casey Development Inc., including raising concerns about traffic, drainage, the reasons for renting the properties instead of selling and the specifics of the homes. About 20 people attended the meeting, but a majority of them were either elected officials, representatives of city offices or people involved with the proposal.

At issue is a proposal to build what developers describe as a “luxury rental home community” on a 50-acre property on the southeastern corner of Sare and Rogers roads, land that currently holds a lake, a barn and one single-family home. The community, which would be called The Lakes and cost in excess of $20 million to build, would include 143 two- or three-bedroom homes with high-end finishes, including granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, laminate wood flooring and high-speed Internet.

Homes would range in size from roughly 1,000 to 1,400 square feet, and sit on small lots that range from 4,200 to 6,500 square feet each, according to Casey Development representative Chris Harness. Each would fetch rent of $1,400 to $1,900 a month.

“This is designed for young professionals, grad students, people who need a true home but can’t afford it,” Harness said of why the company was choosing to build rentals. “(Potential homebuyers) have to come up with 20, 25 percent down, you have to have great credit, you have to be able to provide a guarantee, and most people who are 30 years old can’t do that. I think there’s a market for this kind of product, and it’s in a great location.”

Harness said the company could not prevent undergraduate students from renting the apartments if they met the requirements, but he did not think the area would be likely to attract that demographic. Neighbors in the area concurred.

The property is zoned for single-family homes, and Harness and his company would be seeking to develop it as a “conservation subdivision,” a designation that means at least 50 percent of the land must remain common or green space. According to the site plan for the property, 25 acres of the land would hold the homes, while the conversation area would include the lake — where residents can catch and release fish — two dog parks, several small “pocket parks,” a community garden and a “buffer area” around the entire property. It would also connect to nearby city trails and have a clubhouse with a fitness center, pool, fire pit and outdoor barbecue and kitchen area.

Attendees Monday appeared concerned about how the new development could affect traffic in the area, as development would require two new cuts into Sare Road. Representatives said, however, that each would have a turn lane to help avoid a traffic jam caused by people waiting to turn left into the property.

Another man, meanwhile, questioned to the size of the lots and whether it was appropriate to fit 143 units on roughly 25 acres; City Planning Director Tom Micuda said it was in keeping with the zoning restrictions.

Kim Gater, who lives on adjacent Creek’s Edge Drive, said she had been concerned with how the property could affect her neighborhood, including traffic and drainage concerns. She said was “still undecided” about how she felt about the proposal.

Likewise, Councilman Darryl Neher, whose council district is east of the property, said he attended the meeting because “any time you have a development with 143 units with two or three bedrooms, it demands attention.” He said, however, that he was “withholding judgement” for the time being.

Neighbor John Talbott, however, said he came to the meeting because of ongoing issues he and neighbors have had with their home being placed — inappropriately he thinks — in a “special food area” and he wanted to make sure this development would not have any detrimental effect. He said he “feels OK” about the property and believes Bloomington needs more rental homes.

http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/sto...s-concerns.sto

[msquaredb]

Does anyone know what they are doing to the recreation fields across from Informatics and Collins?

They seem to have removed all the grass and leveled the ground. I assume they are just redoing the grass, but I wasn't sure.

[HoosierInBTOWN]

All they are doing is putting a new irrigation system in and patching up the holes.

Per a RecSports email:
the Woodlawn Field renovation has been approved and will begin Wednesday, June 27. The renovation will include grading of the field, improved soil, irrigation system, new lights, asphalt track and sod.