"The Bridges" - Carmel, Indiana

[McLaren]

Originally Posted by indy_317

I'm glad to hear Carmel's tax rates are low. I was trying to say that Carmel could likely tax at a similar rate at what Indy, and even some other areas like you pointed out, and still not cause too much of an uproar. Carmel seems like a nice area, and we might end up there within five years or so. Not having kids, I'm not sure I want to pay the "Carmel premium" for housing in that area.

Ah, I got ya! Yes, I believe that tax rates could rise to nearly Indy's levels and it wouldn't raise too much of a stink, though that 1/3 of the population you mentioned that votes against Brainard regularly would get very vocal about it. We had no problem passing our school referendum this year even though it did cause our total tax bill to go up this year.

One thing that's changing about Carmel is that it's become more popular for singles, DINK's (dual income no kids) like us and for empty nesters and retired folks. That's not to say it's not as family-friendly as it used to be...there's just more choices than their used to be. We live in an older part of Central Carmel and the price point for our area is fairly low. There's still a premium but it's not quite as bad as the prices go lower.

[Northwest Indiana]

One thing I was wondering...I know that many of these types of developments may or may not have large anchors to them, but does anyone think that there is any remote possibility of an upscale anchor locating to this specific development? Bloomingdale's comes to mind as a retailer that has no presence in the area. While I would think they would be more attracted to the Fashion Mall (having already established a presence of upscale stores), I know that the north suburbs in general have the attractive demographic all over that those stores look for. Does this seem like a possibility or does it just seem like "high-end saturation" for the area? Thanks!

[MissingIndiana]

I don't think something like that would happen. This intersection is not on a main road and the infrastructure is built to handle department store type traffic. I also don't think the size of the lot they are building on is big enough to handle a large department store and still fit in all the apartments,etc. There wouldn't be room enough for parking. People also probably wouldn't drive up there when that was the only option for shopping in the immediate vicinity. If they didn't find what they wanted, they would likely have to drive all the way back down to Castleton or Keystone to finish their shopping, so why not just start there where there are more options.

That said, I can still see some smaller nice shops going in but with the aforementioned areas having most major shopping options, Clay Terrace being nearby as well, and downtown Carmel being under a great deal of development, I think many new incoming stores would either decide the market couldn't handle them right now or they would look at locating in one of these other areas.

[chalcedony]

Originally Posted by MissingIndiana

As far as decreased property values, I think it has more to do with a kind of lifestyle. 116th street in particular still has a lot of open fields and country estate type places on large lots. I think the people that live there want to keep it like this and keep it a bit quieter than other developed parts of town. A lot of people in a lot of places feel this way about development around their homes, but there's a lot of money behind the opinions in this case.

I wouldn't be surprised if some of the people in those "other developed parts of town" moved there originally when they had lots of peace and quiet, and Carmel had four stop lights. And how things have changed.

I'm avoiding a judgment on this proposal because I can certainly here pros and cons. After all, does Carmel need another big upscale retail hub? Can it support it, if Indy metro can't support two Nordstroms? However, I have a hard time sympathizing with people who move to burbs, or even rural areas on the edge of burbs, with the expectation that they will stay rural forever and then push for that politically. It seems to me these people are rushing to the promised land and then trying to close the door behind them so others can't get in. When is new growth too much, and what do the farmers think who were there long before the suburbanites who moved there in the quieter 1970s and 80s? It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

[spyder22]

I would not worry about it really. Carmel has always been a great area to live and prices have never been impacted. Lots of big business means lower property taxes unlike Zionsville to the west (I grew up there). The only part of Carmel that has lost money in Realestate is the Village of West Clay where I live. Most people bought on the high side and now are trying to sell on the low side. Homes where greatly over priced especially when you got into the 400k and above. We love it here and the architecture is cool, plus we got lucky when we bought in.

[CentralCarmel]

Originally Posted by spyder22

I would not worry about it really. Carmel has always been a great area to live and prices have never been impacted. Lots of big business means lower property taxes unlike Zionsville to the west (I grew up there). The only part of Carmel that has lost money in Realestate is the Village of West Clay where I live. Most people bought on the high side and now are trying to sell on the low side. Homes where greatly over priced especially when you got into the 400k and above. We love it here and the architecture is cool, plus we got lucky when we bought in.

People in the Village of West Clay should try to hold out if they can, especially the people in the single family homes. The condos and townhouses have taken a big hit though, that's for sure. Especially those condos that used to be apartments...I've seen two bedroom ones on the market for less than $80k!