Why does Indianapolis get a bad rap as a boring city? (move, suburbs)

[Humboldt1]

St. Louis and Cincinnati have some great housing stock and this may because houses built in 1950 are better built than many 1990s and on cookie cutters. This may be the result of Indy being a newer city.

I prefer Indy's downtown to Cincy and St Louis but these 2 cities have some great housing stock (central west end, suburbs like Clayton). Broad Ripple also has some good housing stock.

[ColdAilment]

Originally Posted by Humboldt1

St. Louis and Cincinnati have some great housing stock and this may because houses built in 1950 are better built than many 1990s and on cookie cutters. This may be the result of Indy being a newer city.

I prefer Indy's downtown to Cincy and St Louis but these 2 cities have some great housing stock (central west end, suburbs like Clayton). Broad Ripple also has some good housing stock.

Indianapolis has been around since the 1830's.

In 1950 the population was over 425,000. Just to put that in perspective that's nearly the size of the city proper of Atlanta in 2010.

Yes, it does have a lot less older housing stock than peer cities, and yes it is slightly younger, but it should still have a great deal, unless they took the Charlotte or Atlanta approach, and destroying the old buildings to make way for the new ones.

[Dyadic]

Originally Posted by ColdAilment

Indianapolis has been around since the 1830's.

In 1950 the population was over 425,000. Just to put that in perspective that's nearly the size of the city proper of Atlanta in 2010.

Yes, it does have a lot less older housing stock than peer cities, and yes it is slightly younger, but it should still have a great deal, unless they took the Charlotte or Atlanta approach, and destroying the old buildings to make way for the new ones.

Indianapolis demolished a good portion of their housing stock in the 50s and 60s. Indy at one time had several flatiron buildings. These triangular-shaped buildings were constructed where angled avenues bisect the city’s grid-patterned streets. One such flatiron block that has seen several changes is at the intersection of East Washington and Pennsylvania Streets and Virginia Avenue. One of the few flatiron buildings remaining is the C.J. Walker building.

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by Humboldt1

St. Louis and Cincinnati have some great housing stock and this may because houses built in 1950 are better built than many 1990s and on cookie cutters. This may be the result of Indy being a newer city.

I prefer Indy's downtown to Cincy and St Louis but these 2 cities have some great housing stock (central west end, suburbs like Clayton). Broad Ripple also has some good housing stock.

I really like the homes on Meridian between say 65th and 38th.

[Humboldt1]

Homes on Meridian north of 38th to meridian hills are quite nice. Wish there were more of these than just a few blocks east and west of meridian.

[Daze55]

Originally Posted by Serious Conversation

I really like the homes on Meridian between say 65th and 38th.

My aunt actually just bought and completely redid one of these homes on Meridian. While her house and the surrounding houses are nice, at the end of her block is an eyesore of an apartment tower, and two blocks south is even worse. I wish that there could be more of these gorgeous old homes than just a few blocks of Meridian, but unfortunately there's not. As more and more of these old houses like my aunt's get restored, hopefully the momentum will move forward to the surrounding areas, but only time will tell.

[Shakeesha]

It 's boring and lacking the things you'd expect in a 2 million plus metro. It has a small skyline, low diversity, low dense areas, low number of higher education facilities, higher than average crime rate, higher than average blighted areas. It's not for me. Indy's only bright spot is its economy.

[Toxic Toast]

Originally Posted by Shakeesha

It 's boring and lacking the things you'd expect in a 2 million plus metro. It has a small skyline, low diversity, low dense areas, low number of higher education facilities, higher than average crime rate, higher than average blighted areas. It's not for me. Indy's only bright spot is its economy.

If you're bored than you're boring, thus speaketh Harvey Danger.

[Dyadic]

Originally Posted by Shakeesha

It 's boring and lacking the things you'd expect in a 2 million plus metro. It has a small skyline, low diversity, low dense areas, low number of higher education facilities, higher than average crime rate, higher than average blighted areas. It's not for me. Indy's only bright spot is its economy.

If you think Indy has a higher than average number of blighted areas then you obviously haven't visited very many large American cities. Besides having a good economy the area's population is growing fastest than most Midwest cites. That fact alone flies in the face of your Indy sucks agenda.

[Humboldt1]

Indy is pretty diverse. The suburbs, not so much.

Relatively few Hispanics and Asians but I expect these will grow, particularly Hispanics.