Surely you’ve passed this building at 14th & Illinois…
and wondered what it was in its past life. In this instance, its future life is of equal interest. Formerly home to the Fame Laundry Company and built in 1929–check out a fantastic Bass Company photo from that year.
The address is/ was 1352-54-56-58 North Illinois
There has been interest in redeveloping this space into some sort of retail/ dwelling space, but remediation of the land and condition of the building may make it cost prohibitive. Having been a laundry/ dry cleaning facility, there are issues of soil contamination.
This could be a gorgeous property again…
I’ve been watching this building for years. It would make a fantastic live-work center. Very sad the details around the doors have been chiseled off. If you look, you’ll see remediation equipment on the south side, and the back section upper windows are set up to breath. So they are addressing the contamination. I thought it was recently part of the now canceled plan for IU Health office expansion.
This is EXACTLY the type of building that could include retail on the first floor, offices as well, and apartments “upstairs…instead of being converted into yet another weed strewn “parking lot”, for what? No activity around…
Call Michaelis…they did some work for me a few years ago and I was told the building was going to be rehabbed as their Home Office.
Cool. Hope it works! That type of economic activity can “feed on itself” leading to the revitalization of the surrounding blocks.
Downtown development notwithstanding, this is a neglected area–a sort of wasteland, really. The strange old retail corridor on Meridian, Illinois, and Penn between, say, 10th and 38th. There are some fab mid-century buildings, of course. A reminder that freeway construction hurt Indy as badly as it hurt any American city, and in just the same ways.
Agreed, James!
I’ve resided in Atlanta since the year 2000, and the continued development along North Peachtree Street from, say, 401 Peachtree north to, say, Paces Ferry Road has been phenomenal; even with the interstate program (Downtown Connector and I75 northwest and I-85 northeast. Peachtree development between Northside Drive on the west and Piedmont Avenue to the east has continued to progress, and most of it is tax-producing upper end development that has still respected at least some historic structures in this corridor could be a lesson for Indianapolis on developing its “Great Street”, Meridian Street. Atlanta has basically done so with its “Great Street”, Peachtree Street; especially with the Atlantic Station development west of Peachtree. .Hate to say it, but Indianapolis just doesn’t encourage an entrepeneurial approach like Atalnta does..Atlanta “worked around” the interstate epoch….
Potentially exciting new development for this property:
http://www.urbanindy.com/2013/10/24/1352-illinois-street-approved-for-apartments/