Main Street Parking Strategy Revealed

(posted May 26)
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Above - initial assessment showing proposed zones.

Below - phase 1 development
Drawings courtesy Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf and Speedway Redevelopment Commission


Helen Kellam thinks parallel parking in the 1500 block of Main Street is a bad idea, and she let her opinions be known to the Speedway Redevelopment Commission at its May 18 meeting.

Kellam told the commissioners that parallel parking was tried in the 1930s or 1940s and it "strangled" the businesses. "It was disaster. There is not that much room for parallel parking," she said.

Kellam's input was given before Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf Architects Executive Vice President Greg Jacoby's presentation of the preliminary Main Street site plan. The company was hired to evaluate and preserve Main Street buildings. The plan does recommend preserving many of the buildings, including the Rosner building at 1564 Main Street.

When asked about the building conditions encountered during their inspections, Jacoby said that none of the buildings "scared us" to the point of running out, and nothing they found was beyond repair. "It's all doable," he said. Ten buildings on the west side of Main are rated as "Historic - to remain", while the remainder are divided between high and low potential for reuse.

The company has rehabilitated over 50 structures in the last 25 years, including Union Station. Jacoby said the Main Street buildings could be reused for retail and restaurants as the town center, from 14th Street to 16th Street. The plan calls for an increase in parking by demolishing the back end of some of the existing structures. He said the studies show that retail items generally do not sell when they are displayed in the back of a store. He used Broad Ripple as the model for his recommendation.

Parking has always been a critical need for Main Street and has created tension among business owners about space to serve their patrons.

Jacoby said parking and development needs to happen at the same time. Jacoby also recommended using the Zipp Speed Weaponry building for retail and residential instead of its current use of manufacturing bike wheels. Jacoby suggested parking could be developed behind the building. He said higher and better uses like retail and housing above the shops will evolve over time to replace older buildings coming down.

Parking will also require acquiring the unimproved land from Praxair at 16th and Main Street. The plan envisions retail and offices with structure parking behind it.

SRC Executive Director Harris expects to meet with Praxair in a couple of weeks to "reconfirm" the plan. He said the dialogue indicates Praxair is "comfortable." The SRC would like to have Praxair's property for parking, especially to help grow the retail area between the 1400 and 1600 blocks of Main Street.

"Praxair has had multiple conversations with the Speedway Redevelopment Commission and enjoys a constructive and cooperative relationship about their redevelopment plans. Whether or not a memorandum of understanding and/or other binding agreements have been entered into are matters between Praxair and the commission and will be disclosed publicly when both parties agree. Praxair has been invited to participate in the Main Streetscape meetings and will when the need arises," Praxair's Global Communications Manager Wendy Chance said.

Main Street's plan divides the six block area into three zones; town center, educational and business. Jacoby said the next step is to make the two dimensional plan into a three dimensional plan to better understand each zone. "Every building that comes here has to really be a good neighbor to every building around it, especially since we are trying to save so many buildings, especially on the northern end of the project."

The SRC did not conduct the May 20th Main Street public meeting as initially planned. The last public meeting for Main Street was March 17th.