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City Schools Measuring Up

Posted on August 01, 2011 by Tadd Miller

I have had my third conversation in the last few weeks with someone who had moved to the suburbs seeking a better education for their children. In each case the parents have realized that their "chosen" school system does not suit their child, or that they could have found a more appropriate school in the city. These same parents are now moving downtown or considering a move back to their former neighborhood in order to meet their educational goals for their children. This trend seems to be related to the housing market in some urban areas with more people choosing to stay, or perhaps the housing market is helping them choose to stay. Regardless, it is a positive trend for both schools and neighborhoods. In Indianapolis, if you live in or around downtown or you are considering a move to the metro area, do not let anyone tell you that you absolutely need to look outside the area of IPS (Indianapolis Public Schools). It's simply not true. The truth is that there are great opportunities both inside and outside the city - both public and private options. Here is good list to start your search to educate your kids in urban Indianapolis. Let us know in the comments below if we missed any.

Center for Inquiry - Downtown and Meridian Kessler

The Oaks Academy - Fall Creek Place

Indianapolis Christian School - Downtown

The Todd Academy - Downtown

The International School - Northwestside and Meridian Kessler

Herron High School - Herron Morton

The Hutson School - Northside

The Orchard School - Northside

Merle Sidener Gifted Academy - Northside

Photos

Click an image to view the gallery.

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Make People Happy with Walkable Neighborhoods

Posted on February 23, 2011 by Tadd Miller

walking mixed use sierra clubRevealing University of New Hampshire study on happiness and walking. “We know it's good for the planet, but that's not the only reason walking rocks: People who can walk to their favorite cafe, stroll to a neighborhood park, or saunter to a community center are more trusting and civically involved than people who live in car-centric places, say researchers from the University of New Hampshire in a study published in Applied Research in Quality of Life.”

Photo from Sierra Club

This entry was posted in Education

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Band-aid or Be Bold – Urban Education Reform

Posted on February 09, 2011 by Tadd Miller

Arts Garden mixed use milhausIf Indy didn’t spec stadiums and sports venues, would it be the amateur sports capital of the world?

If gaping holes didn’t appear downtown Indy (for years), would Circle Center Mall exist? Would there be a performance stage suspended over an intersection in the middle of the city? Really, we can do that?

How many more years of struggled East Side redevelopment would there be absent the NFL Legacy Project?

Now, if urban education system wasn’t broke, would it be the focus of every newspaper and politician? See today's news for the most recent action in this saga locally.

Now, what's the best approach? Being bold isn’t always about being exciting, sometimes it just requires avoiding the “band-aid approach” to achieve consensus for solutions to urban issues. In the short run, it’s cheaper, easier, politically smoother, and less risk to band-aid issues; however, this tactic prolongs and weaken solutions, and it often hurts far more than the band-aid savings. Indianapolis has done some great things over the last couple of decades, but like other major cities we have been band-aiding the education system while being bold with other priorities. This has caused generational, long-term systemic effects on our cities, country, and our world position. Education is paramount as we think about redeveloping our urban cores, and sometimes we need to just forget the band-aid, and use those resources to make stuff happen that may not be popular, may not happen quickly, and may not be the cheapest solution in the short term; but the long term viability of our neighborhoods and our urban cores depend on being bold with education just like we are with stadiums, malls and other redevelopment efforts. If we're going to compete at a global level, we have no choice but to enhance our urban neighborhoods so that families actually prefer them to the suburbs. The buildings, the venues, the shopping is all great. It's time we prioritize education or we risk losing the residents we depend on to fill all the spaces we have built.

This entry was posted in Education and tagged Super Bowl 2012, Circle Center Mall, Arts Garden, Lucas Oil Stadium

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Industry Transition - Thoughts from CCIM Development Panel

Posted on December 11, 2010 by Tadd Miller

I was fortunate to be invited to speak on the CCIM panel a couple weeks ago in Indianapolis. An interesting discussion between the office, retail, multi-family and lending industries, and the shake-up that has taken place within the overall real estate community. As soon as the program started, and I looked out across the audience recognizing a host of people with far more experience than I, and who I knew as the market makers, and somewhat was curious why I was sitting on that stage. It immediately made me think about the incredible transition in our industry that has taken place through the last 36 months. I do not believe that anyone on the 5 person panel, or the coordinator who put it together, was currently employed or working with the same company that they had been 24 – 36 months ago. In addition, as I looked across the crowd, it was incredible as in my head I began to immediately tick off how many people I recognized that had changed firms, or even roles in the industry that were in attendance. I have found this transition of information and people to all different places an incredible event over the past few years, and likely a reason why you are seeing so many of the big players struggle and the number of new companies emerge. I believe and hope that this is good for the real estate industry, and I am hopeful that some of these transitions as well as the tumultuous market that has taken place over the last few years helps people realize that real estate is more than a commodity, creation of neighborhoods in their developments is a strong value creator, and that we need to be more conscious in our design and development than just spreadsheet/production commodities builders. It is truly an incredible time and there are opportunities that keep their nose to the grindstone, stick to their fundamentals, and make it out the other end. For those that do this, significant wealth and social impact will be made over the next 10 – 20 years.

Moderator: Pete Anderson, Vice President for Cassidy Turley
Medical Office Panelist: Taggart Birge, Executive Vice President for Cornerstone Companies, Inc.
Retail Panelist: Ashlee S. Boyd, Senior Vice President for Thompson Thrift Development, Inc.
Finance Panelist: Greg Buckhout, Senior CRE Relationship Manager for First Financial Bank
Multi-family Panelist: Tadd Miller, CEO of Milhaus Development, LLC

This entry was posted in Education

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Mixed use and crime linked?

Posted on September 23, 2010 by David Leazenby

Here some interesting research out of Ohio State University that studied the effects on crime given different levels of residential and business activity in neighborhoods. It seems to support a link between increased density, a balance of uses, and a lower level of violent crime. I question whether density alone can explain the trend. I think urban design factors affect the potential for crime quite a bit as well, ie. lighting, landscaping, window placement, parking configurations, etc. There is currently a trend in cities to implement Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) techniques and guidelines that address some these issues. You can learn a lot about it here.

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Urban Schools Gain Momentum

Posted on August 24, 2010 by Tadd Miller

When the number one excuse to move to the suburbs by my peer group is schools, I get pretty excited when I see articles like IBJ’s Norm Heikens article “Urban Schools gather momentum in Indianapolis Area.” According to one of the experts interviewed, ”Parents who believe they must flee Marion County to find good schools might do as well or better by staying put” (Johnathan Plucker; Indiana University). As the article states, we are not 100% there, and it is not that affluent suburbs average test scores are not still above, however, it appears that urban schools are improving, and at a much faster rate than the suburban schools. What excites me is the fact that there is improvement, and all the work so many of us have done to improve the urban core, some of the final pieces, like education are starting to come together. It is not so much that I am happy with where the schools are, but that we are finally starting to see some signs that the trend is moving in the right direction for the first time in decades. It is amazing what happens when competition starts to enter the market, how things start to improve!

This entry was posted in Education, Lifestyle, News

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How do you prepare for 100 Million more people?

Posted on June 09, 2010 by David Leazenby

mixed-use-100-millionI spent an hour with some Ball State University students this morning discussing the role of planners in development. These students are a fortunate group, as the job growth for planners through 2018 is projected at 19% according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics and it is cited as one of the top 50 careers for 2010 by US News & World Report. It’s no wonder since America will add about 100 Million people by 2050. These young planners are currently studying how best to plan the communities where your kids and all of their new friends will live in the future. It’s a difficult task.

The real estate development industry should be very interested in what they are learning. We should be working alongside them and sharing information. They will be planning the cities and neighborhoods in which we want to build new buildings, and they are reading up on mixed use development and urban infill. They’re learning that their Generation Y, with 86 Million people aged 15-28, will be the driving force of purchasing decisions in our new economy.

We need to support and be involved in the more than 70 accredited planning schools around the country. Its in everyone’s best interest that these students are fully prepared for the dynamic changes that are taking place in demographics, spending patterns, technology, energy, government regulations and real estate investments. I learn as much from my visits with planning students as I do networking with peers, and I bet you would find the same. I would encourage other developers to get involved in whatever planning school you have nearby. You can see a list of them here.

This entry was posted in Education and tagged mixed use, urban planning, Ball State, CAP, demographics, education, infill

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