I don't know about you, but I am confused. I recently read that HopCat, Indy's biggest beer bar (130 taps) will be at 6280 College Avenue, on the ground floor of the Broad Ripple Parking Garage and Shoppes. Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't the garage sold to us on the premise that there was so much nightlife parking from the already existing bar traffic that additional parking was needed? Then after the garage was a signed deal, complete with tax incentives, Kilroy's was brought in and now HopCat's in the garage building itself. So if we had an overflow need for parking that required the garage we now add two very large establishments that would put us right back to the parking situation before it was built. From observation it doesn't appear that the garage has helped bring more business to the area and fill vacancies. For example, the southeast College corner where Barley Island once was still remains vacant and certainly no longer for the lack of parking. Firehouse Subs had a brief run in the shop space below the garage and pulled out. That retail space has not been a hot commodity and has been mostly vacant for this past introductory year.

As a retailer for many years, with shops in two trendy areas (Broad Ripple and Mass Ave.), I sometimes wonder where the retail is going to come from that the developers and planners tell us will come if they build it. It isn't always so. In the 800 block of Mass Ave., across from my store, a building was razed and a new four story apartment building with retail below was built. It started leasing more than two years ago. The apartments were a hit and fully leased immediately, however, the retail leasing, not so much. The rent was really high and nothing leased. Then deals were made and rents lowered. They scored with Yats, their first retail tenant. Yats had lost their lease a few blocks away on Mass Ave where they had been for eleven years, due to the property owner wanting to make a bar out of their space. So Yats moved in and a few months later two other businesses followed. Fifty percent is still vacant with for lease signs in the window.

When these buildings are designed and presented to us by the zoning board and the city council, they are sold to us with all the benefits they will bring. We are told that if we give tax abatements and TIFs it will offer incentive to developers to improve our area. If the projects sit idle for years with no rent money coming in and the bank still needs monthly payments, something isn't working. What confuses me is, if deals have to be cut and rents lowered how does the project remain sustainable after we the taxpayers have approved the building based on the dollars projected at planning? I ask this because there is still much discussion on the table about the projected Whole Foods development. I am still perplexed as to why they want to open a second location just two miles from their other established store. Is there something they aren't telling us? Will they close the Nora store and leave a vacancy in that location? Change is good and new development necessary but do we always believe what we are told or do we proceed with caution especially when it involves taxpayer dollars and not just private money?

Recently I got an email blast from Midtown Indianapolis, Inc. urging us to show support for the TIF Bond hearing, to ensure that it passes by contacting our city councilors showing this is a desired development. The hearing has been scheduled for Monday, May 19th, at 5:30 p.m. at the City County Council Building, Room 260. By all means, if you feel strongly about this in either direction, be heard. There's a saying. . . . . . . "Be careful what you wish for - you might get it." We got a garage that had to be filled with a bar instead of shops that we had hoped for that would not have consumed so much of the needed parking for the village.