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Sorry, but Indy's construction rate is just awful compared to its peers nationally.
Through August this year, developers applied to build just 201 multi-family units in the entire city, and that is essentially Marion County, a far larger area included than most of the peer cities. It's supposed sister city Columbus had more than 10x that number. In fact, Columbus had more multi-family units permitted through August in the core city alone than Indy had in its entire metro area (2308 vs. 1746). 94.1% of all of this year's permitted multi-family units are being built within the core city of Columbus vs. it's metro while the entirety of Marion County only counts for 11.5% of the metro's multi-family units. This is in the bottom half of the bottom half compared to its national peers as well as to other major Midwest metros.
Almost all of the neighborhoods you mentioned lost population the last decade. Indy was one of the few cities nationally that actually saw a decline in the number of urban census tracts around the downtown area that saw population growth vs. the previous decade. Maybe that is turning around, but the construction numbers don't really bear that out.
As someone who doesn't know Columbus at all, what is the "core city" of Columbus? I more or less consider Center Township Indy's ""core", like I consider the 1945 city limits KC's "core" but don't really know where the pre-war core is in Columbus or if there is a good, clear representative of it.
As someone who doesn't know Columbus at all, what is the "core city" of Columbus? I more or less consider Center Township Indy's ""core", like I consider the 1945 city limits KC's "core" but don't really know where the pre-war core is in Columbus or if there is a good, clear representative of it.
I was talking basically about the city limits, as in core city of the metro, not the dead center of the city itself. Which is what makes those numbers so bad for Indy. Even including all of Marion County, which includes more than 200 more square miles than all of Columbus, Columbus still has 10x more. Most of that construction, however, is occurring within or just adjacent to the 1950 core city boundary.
Aside from population size and being in the Midwest, they're actually very different in tons of ways.
They're similar insofar as both cities (through different processes) managed to annex a ton of their suburbs, which meant they avoided going through a population decline like surrounding cities did in the Midwest. They're also both state capitals, and were always a bit more white collar than their peers.
Columbus is more of a "real city" than Indy, but pretty unimpressive in terms of urban feel compared to true rust belt cities. IMHO it has too many parking lots in the core, but at least has some nice grit and a lot of remaining historic buildings. I don't like how highways cut off downtown from all the surrounding residential areas, but it still has large, beautiful urban neighborhoods near downtown like German Village where you could (theoretically) walk to downtown, where Indy's residential historic areas close to downtown are a few scattered blocks here and there.
I really despise idiots who live in a desert.....and claim they live in a superior environment to a full-throttled four season, fertile, verdant place like the capital of Indiana.
I really despise idiots who live in a desert.....and claim they live in a superior environment to a full-throttled four season, fertile, verdant place like the capital of Indiana.
Hello. I've enjoyed reading people's opinions on various American cities. I grew up in Honolulu, HI and currently live in a small city in Japan, right outside of Tokyo...so yes, I have been around. I'm moving to Indy to live with my fiancee in the beginning of the year. I went to visit this spring and absolutely LOVED it. I really don't get why people are guzzling on the haterade when it comes to Indy.
I liked Indianapolis when I visited it. I especially liked the more rural area right outside on the way to the airport. This was in the early 2000s.
They're similar insofar as both cities (through different processes) managed to annex a ton of their suburbs, which meant they avoided going through a population decline like surrounding cities did in the Midwest. They're also both state capitals, and were always a bit more white collar than their peers.
Columbus is more of a "real city" than Indy, but pretty unimpressive in terms of urban feel compared to true rust belt cities. IMHO it has too many parking lots in the core, but at least has some nice grit and a lot of remaining historic buildings. I don't like how highways cut off downtown from all the surrounding residential areas, but it still has large, beautiful urban neighborhoods near downtown like German Village where you could (theoretically) walk to downtown, where Indy's residential historic areas close to downtown are a few scattered blocks here and there.
The comparisons have always seemed a bit shallow to me. You can find similarities with any 2 cities, and I think they were much more similar 20-30 years ago.
It's also unfair to say Columbus has less "urban feel". Urban feel is largely related to population density, and Columbus has surprisingly high density to it.
Here are standardized densities at 50 square miles, which encompasses the urban cores of cities, for some traditional Rust Belt and nearby cities.
I was talking basically about the city limits, as in core city of the metro, not the dead center of the city itself. Which is what makes those numbers so bad for Indy. Even including all of Marion County, which includes more than 200 more square miles than all of Columbus, Columbus still has 10x more. Most of that construction, however, is occurring within or just adjacent to the 1950 core city boundary.
Can you please provide a link showing a source for your numbers? I'm not refuting them, but would really love to see some evidence.
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I'm moving to Indy to live with my fiancee in the beginning of the year. I went to visit this spring and absolutely LOVED it. I really don't get why people are guzzling on the haterade when it comes to Indy.
