Indianapolis is My Home

01
Aug

Brightpoint Moves HQ and Returns Home

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Business, Local Businesses, Northwest Side, Real Estate

It was almost 20 years ago that Brightpoint started their existence on the Northwest side of Indianapolis. They announce today that they’ll be moving their headquarters back to the Indy and not very far from where they started.

Brightpoint will be moving HQ from Plainfield and into the new building being finished by Interactive Intelligence.

The company, which has about 65 headquarters employees and about 1,000 workers in Indiana, plans to share a new building with software developer Interactive Intelligence Inc. and engineering firm Woolpert Inc. along Interstate 465 north of West 71st Street. The space will allow the company to implement an expansion that calls for up to 60 new headquarters employees in the next seven years.

It’s always good to hear about a company moving to make room for expansion, but I’m sure the loss will be felt by Plainfield as well.

Source: Brightpoint to move HQ to Indy on IBJ

21
Jul

Starbucks Closing 12 Indianapolis Area Stores

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Business, Carmel, Coffee Shops, Downtown, Greenwood, Indianapolis Area, Keystone, News, Northwest Side, Real Estate, Speedway, West Side

When I first heard about the news that Starbucks has finally appeared to out-grow their britches, I thought I’d read that there weren’t any Indianapolis stores closing. As the image above humorously depicts skewing the original imagery by M.C. Escher, Starbucks always seemed to be everywhere. Between their actual stores and their little satellite stores located in other stores, they’re everywhere!

At one point in our lives, my brothers and I have all worked at a Starbucks store. My middle brother went the furthest with it as he actually opened a new store, which I think is one of the ones being closed now, which doesn’t make any sense to me.

Here are some of the soon to be closed locations:

• College Avenue & Fall Creek Parkway
• 38th and Meridian St
• 3855 E. 96th Street
• 9642 Allisonville Rd.
• 5060 W. 38th St.
• 5945 Crawfordsville Rd
• 3021 W 16th St
• 3801 S. Keystone Ave
• Merchant Square in Carmel
• US 31 & Fry Road in Greenwood
• Albany & 17th St in Beech Grove
• Metropolis Mall 2499 Futura Parkway in Plainfield

I had a Starbucks coffee for the first time in quite awhile on Thursday night. I’ve been cutting back on my coffee purchases in general, but when I do have a drink it’s been purchased from local coffee shop the vast majority of the time.

All-in-all I think closing a number of stores is a great move for Starbucks. I’m sure it will be a great opportunity for local shops and even Dunkin Donuts to make more of run for market share as well.

From my time working at the SBUX though, I think they’re a great company to work for that seems to care about their employees and work with them to keep balance in their lives.

Story Source: Grinding to a halt: 12 local Starbucks
Image Source: MIT Laboratory for Branding Cultures

14
May

What Indy Car Drivers Drive Off the Track

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indy 500, Northwest Side

We were just in a local tire shop having some work done and picking up the car. Before I even pulled into the lot I noticed this car in the parking space (handicapped at that).

We found it it belongs to an Indy Car driver, but he doesn’t have his pit crew work on his personal car so he brings it in here to get work done on it. There were a stack of racing slicks next to the car just to the left out of the photo.

I’m not sure who it belongs to, but the car had California plates on it. I wonder if he gets to open this sucker up on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway track sometimes?

In case the photo I took above isn’t clear enough (I took it with my phone), here’s what the car looks like from Edmunds.

Yeah! Very nice! Would love to drive that around at least once in my life.

28
Jan

The Souls of Our Feet at Pike Performance Arts Center

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Art, Concerts, Cultural Events, High Schools, Northwest Side, Pike PAC, Theater, Things To Do in Indy

On Saturday, January 19th it was a frigid day to be outside, but it was also a good night to be at the Pike Performing Arts Center with my daughter. You see, we went on a Daddy Daughter Date to go see "The Souls of Our Feet: A Celebration of American Tap Dance".

My daughter has taken some dance classes, including tap, to introduce her to the art and she got exposed to the true art of dance that night.

"The Souls of Our Feet" is part of a National Endowment for the Arts "American Masterpiece: Dance" production for the 2007-2008 season. The dance group is Tapestry Dance Company (Jaqueline Coleman, Katelyn Harris, Jason Janas, Brenna Kuhn, Tasha Lawson, Tony Merriwether and Matt Shields), Executive-Artistic Director is Acia Gray and special guest was Dianne Walker who was a cast member of the great tap movie entitled "TAP" with Gregory Hines.

The production was great. They would start off with a video projection of a specific scene from history that highlighted the roots of tap dance in performance. Then the jazz trio would start playing the music and the video scene would fade as the live dancers stepped into the light and began doing the routine that was introduced in the video segment. The transition and fading from recorded audio and projected video to live sound and dancers was a tremendous expression.

I found a YouTube video of clips of various segments from the performance as it was done in an opening performance back in November. The clips are almost identical to what we got to see live at Pike PAC.

What a great show.

See the video after the jump

Read the rest of this entry »

24
Jan

Free Shawn Mullins Coming to Music Mill

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Concerts, Music Mill, Northwest Side, Special Events, Things To Do in Indy

I’m not sure exactly what it was about the song "Lullaby" released by Shawn Mullins back in 1998, but I absolutely loved it. It could have been that I was living in Nashville, TN at the time and there’s a little bit of a line about the city in the lyrics.

Shawn Mullins will be in concert at Music Mill up on the north side tomorrow night night.

The Atlanta native, who dipped into the pop charts with 1998’s "Lullaby" and earned a teen following by placing his "Shimmer" on the "Dawson’s Creek" soundtrack, has a very good train song of his own on his upcoming disc, "honeydew." Titled "See That Train," it seems to take Mullins on a trip into early Tom Waits territory. And it proves to be a journey worth taking.

Give yourself a great start to the weekend and take advantage of this free concert at Music Mill. Also performing, opening up the show is Jenn Cristy.

11
Jan

Lunch at Claude & Annie’s

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Bars, Pubs & Grills, Local Businesses, Local Establishments, Northwest Side, WRTV - TV Channel 6

My boss and I stumbled into an unexpected great lunch earlier this week. That’s far better than stumbling out of the place later in the evening.

We dropped into Claude & Annie’s Park 100 location because my boss had some tires replaced on his car. It was within walking distance and we thought we’d give it a try.

From looking at their website it appears the lunch buffet menu changes, but it was fried chicken, pork chops, deep fried biscuits with apple butter, mashed potatoes and gravy, potato wedges, buttered carrots and a salad bar.

Let me just say that the chicken, gravy and biscuits were delicious! I ate way too much.

The only downfall for me was the smokey atmosphere, but hey, I expected that going in and their website proudly proclaims they welcome smokers. Again, this is to be expected and I don’t fault them for it at all. I also learned they were an WRTV6 A-List Award winner as well! So, I don’t guess this was too hidden from the majority of the public other than me.

They’ve got loads of pool tables, darts machines and have Texas Hold ‘Em poker tournaments each week. Not sure I’ll be back for any of that, but I’ll be back for the fried chicken for sure.

01
Nov

Boathouse Grill - Dining Review

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Business, Dining, Local Establishments, Northwest Side, Sports, Uncategorized

Another location that I frequent regularly during the work week is the Boathouse Grill off of 56th street. They’re located between Lafayette Road and I-465 on the west side. They’re in a fairly new strip center on the south side of 56th street, but once you walk in the door you feel like you’re in a place that’s been around for ages.

Boathouse Grill is regularly busy during the day and my business partner says their evening business is just as good.

I got stuck in a rut when we first started going to the place and I always ended up getting the same item off the menu. Now though, I’ve tried a number of different things and am still partial to my favorites.

• Chicken or steak fajita wrap
• Nachos (add chicken or steak and guacamole)
• Pork tenderloin
• Club Sandwich
• Patty melt
• Italian sub

Those are all good of course, but I’ll tell you I’ve yet to get anything there that I haven’t thoroughly enjoyed. I think the only thing that’s ever been left on my plate when I’ve finished is the dishes the food came on, the silverware I used and a dirty napkin. Good stuff!

When you visit, be sure and ask for Joy. She’s one of the owners and oozes hospitality and customer service. Always quick with a smile and a friendly word.

The Boathouse Grill has plenty of TV’s over the fully-stocked bar, so it’s a great place to watch a game with some friends or just grab a booth and talk.

Go check them out and tell them Jason “Water w/ Lemon” sent you!

Map to Boathouse Grill

19
Sep

A Taste of Morocco in Indianapolis

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Business Entrepreneurs, Cultural Events, Dining, Keystone, Local Establishments, Northwest Side

My boss and I stopped by El Morocco restaurant last night after our IndyPASS meeting and enjoyed an absolutely fantastic and unique meal.

We had come across the restaurant before after my brother told me about it and found out they had a great lunch buffet. One afternoon we stopped by there as we had been looking forward to it for a couple of weeks and they had closed down for lunch. They didn’t have enough business.

Having the opportunity to go back last night for dinner was a treat. The owner immediately recognized us and welcomed us back. After some light-hearted banter about him taking away one of our favorite lunch buffets, we jumped into trying to decide what to choose since we couldn’t just sample everything.

The owner pointed out the 5-course meal option and it provided us the reward of sampling a large variety of dishes. Some of them had not been on the buffet and some had. I meant to take a picture of the dishes but was so wrapped up in just eating, it slipped my mind.

The meal started with some fresh whole-wheat bread and a bowl of lentil soup that was tremendous. That was followed by a plate with a variety of prepared vegetables: eggplant, green peppers and onions, carrots, cabbage and spinach. The 3rd course was an interesting chicken pastry dish. The crust was like a thin, crispy phyllo dough and the whole thing was dusted with cinnamon and powdered sugar. That was followed by the main entree of a whole Cornish hen roasted in a sweet sauce with onions and raisins. The last dish was fresh fruit and a very sweet pastry. If you go there you have to get the hot tea as well. It’s like drinking Double-Mint gum.

After the last course, we thanked the owner for his time and great hospitality. I told him that he should open up the lunch buffet once a week if we could organized a group to show up each day to support him. He said if I got 20 people to let him know and he’d open just for us.

If you’re interested in trying it out, let me know in the comments and when we get 20 I’ll give him a call and schedule something. I’m SERIOUS!

I really think we should support local establishments like this and there are a variety of them that I visit frequently and will highlight on the site. If you’ve got a restaurant that you recommend, be sure to let us know in the comments. I’m sure my boss and I would love to try them out.

More Details at Indy.org about El Morocco Restaurant

Map Graphic Credit: CNN.com

22
Aug

Angel Learning Re-Locates Offices and Expands in Indianapolis

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Business, Government, Northwest Side, Real Estate

Angel Learning announced today that is moving it’s corporate headquarters to Indianapolis. That’s funny though because they’re already here. The fact is they’re relocating their offices from one side of I-465 to the other up on the northwest side. Only 1.9 miles away to be exact.

They’ll be moving into some of the new office space that’s being developed at Intech Park up around I-465 and 71st street. Good to know that new road construction and improvement will continue to get it’s workout in the area.

The city is giving them over $2.5M in tax breaks and training grants for the move. If you read the comments in the article, there’s lots of discussion about the tax break implications. With the way the current tax system seems to be messed up in the city, do these types of agreements really help or continue hurting us in the long run?

Adding 120 new jobs that are well-paying is always a good thing for the economy, but it sounds like they’re just getting a well paid moving bill to relocate their offices, which is needed. I think I’d understand it a little bit more if we were wooing them from another state with these credits.

What do you think?

Source: Software company adds 120-plus jobs