Living In Pike.com

Happy New Year to all,

I can’t believe another year has come and gone. Before the year ends, I wanted to take a moment to wish you all a happy holiday season and all the best for 2010. A lot has happened in 2009 in the city and in our neighborhoods. While not exhaustive and in no order, here are some of highlights.

Recycle your Christmas tree, gift boxes, electronics, including TVs under 27”, cardboard boxes, and Styrofoam Saturday, January 9, 2010, at Broad Ripple Park (1550 Broad Ripple Ave), Ellenberger Park (5301 E St Clair St), Garfield Park (2345 Pagoda Dr), and Krannert Park (605 S. High School Rd).

W 46th St from Raceway to Lafayette Rd was resurfaced and new signage was put up at Lafayette Rd to identify turn lanes.

Zionsville Rd was resurfaced north of 86th St, and, between 71st & 86th Sts, is being resurfaced along with adding curbs including green infrastructure cut outs to facilitate drainage.

The bridge on Lafayette Rd between 71st and 79th has been completely rebuilt with a bike lane to Eagle Creek Park.

Tree Plantings:
Parks, Pike Youth Soccer, Neighbors and other Community Volunteers planted trees and shrubs along the Greenways Trail at Geisse Soccer Complex in May, and another 96 trees and shrubs were planted throughout the property this fall.

Normandy Farms did a second planting of trees around the INDOT salt/transportation property on Lafayette Rd.

Traders Point received designation as a federal Historic Rural District.

Potholes and High Weeds and Grass processes underwent a Six Sigma evaluation to identify and implement efficiencies to provide decreased call to fill/cut times and provide better service. The number of steps to fill potholes was significantly reduced and now potholes are being repaired much more quickly than in the past, often within a day or two. High Weeds and Grass cut time decreased from 42 days in 2008 to 16 days in 2009. Over 9000 properties were mowed compared to less than 2200 in 2008. When city contractors mowed a property, the property was automatically reinspected and mowed if needed, resulting in over 2700 re-mows (2337 in 2008).

The Lafayette Square Area Coalition has been working to revitalize the Lafayette Square Area. A revised Area Land Use Plan will be submitted to the city for adoption in 2010. They also hosted their second annual International Parade and third annual Taste the Difference event, both of which highlight the many cultures of people living in the area. If you are interested in participating or volunteering, please visit www.lafayettesquareareacoalition.org.

Eagledale Neighborhood Association worked with Indianapolis Motor Speedway to clean up a section of Falcon Creek from Fredonia to Philips Ct. A couple transmissions, tires, shopping carts and more were pulled out, as well as much of the overgrowth cut back.

The Eagledale/Lafayette Square Area Weed & Seed is completing its second year, with funding scheduled for three more years. New chairs have been elected for the Steering, Weed, and Seed Committees, with a renewed commitment to engaging the community and encouraging participation in order to “weed” out negative activities and “seed” in positive alternatives. The first annual Peace Walk had over 100 participants with plans to grow it next year. There will be a bike safety rally and much more in 2010. Please come out and participate and support these efforts. Interested? Contact 979-3053.

Steering Committee Mtgs – 2nd Tuesdays at 6pm at the Eagle Branch Library, 3325 Lowry, just south of W 34th and east of Georgetown Rd.

Weed Mtgs – 3rd Thursdays at 6pm at the Eagle Branch Library

Seed Mtgs – 4th Wednesdays at 6pm at the Covenant Baptist Church, 3301 W 30th St., between Georgetown and Lafayette Rd.

In 2010,

W 38th St will be resurfaced and new sidewalks will be added on both sides of the street from I-465 to I-65. A public meeting will be held probably some time in March to share details.

Bike lanes will be added, for the most part on existing road surface, to Lafayette Rd from County Line in the North to the White River closer to downtown. The lanes should be in place late 2010 or early 2011.

The Eagledale Northwest Community Center will begin offering Golden Eagles activities for seniors (including tutoring students) at the Imagine Life Sciences West charter school a couple afternoons a week in 2010.

A new pedestrian trail will be added to Michigan Rd between W 86th and Township Line Rd.

As the Mayor notes, citizens are proud of their city, but they live in their neighborhoods. Thank you to all that you do to make your neighborhoods better places to live. I look forward to working with you in 2010!

I will be out of the office now until January 4th. I will respond to any questions or concerns when I return.

Mary E. Chalmers
Northwest Outer Region
Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services
Gregory A. Ballard, Mayor
2135 City-County Building
200 East Washington Street
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204
Office: (317) 327-5157
Fax: (317) 327-5424
mchalmer@indy.gov

This is an interesting indicator. Yes, we do have million dollar plus homes in Pike Township. Here is the history of sales for the past 5 years.

2004 - 1
2005 - 2
2006 - 4
2007 - 0
2008 - 0

So far in 2009 we have had 2 million dollar plus sales. Can you guess where most of the million dollar plus homes are in Pike Township? If you guessed on the water at Eagle Creek Resevoir, you are correct.

How does Pike compare to other Townships in Marion County? So far this year there have been a total of 10 million dollar plus homes sold. The breakdown follows;

Pike - 2
Washington - 4
Lawrence - 3
Center - 1

There have been no million dollar plus home sales in the southern Marion County Townships this year.

Is this an indicator that high end housing sales are rebounding? Time will tell.

Please Note…The above is a corrected chart. Real Estate companies have a tendency to record sales late. Some times months or even a year late. The above chart is accurate to this date BUT most likely I will have to correct the last few months the next time I post it. Also Feb. 2009 has been corrected. This was my clerical error. Sorry.

Five years ago I did a Comparable Market Analysis for an owner that lived just east of 71st and Michigan Road. A challenging area that has about 10 homes, several which have gotten commercial zoning. The house was not in a legal community. The request for the CMA and my response were all done through email and I only had seen the outside of the home. The house was in a very unique setting and I had only a few sales in the area to go by. I did the best I could and never heard from the seller again until this year. He called me out of the blue and wanted to talk to me about selling his house. We made an appointment and again I prepared a Comparable Market Analysis for him. This time I got to see the inside of the house.

It was built in 1940, a two story with full basement, 4 bedrooms and 1.5 baths. On almost an acre, fenced on three sides with
the forth side on Westlane Road. It was a country setting in an urban area.

Turns out the owner was a contractor and had done all the nice touches that Realtors love. He had Hardie planked the house, put
a new roof on, made an extremely nice patio in the back of the house, etc. Inside it had all the charm of a well kept country
home.

Mike and Jessie Jones (the owners) had raised six children in the home and had lived there over 20 years. Four girls and two boys. I got to thinking about that because the four girls had the two upstairs bedrooms and there was only a half bath upstairs. I asked Mike “How did that work out for you?” He responded “Scheduling”. Turns out that some of his children went to Pike Schools at the same time my 28 year old son did.

Mike and Jessie were some of the nicest people to work with since I have been in the business. They wanted to sell the present
house and look for a smaller house in the area. They are members of Agape Church at 62nd and Georgetown Road and Mike was the contractor when the church was built. They wanted to find a house that was still close to the church.

About a month into the listing of their present house we started looking for their new house. We looked at about 10 houses and always came back to the first one we had looked at. A 3 bedroom 2 bath ranch with full basement in Washington Township. Built in 1961, vacant and looked like it had never been updated. We must have visited the property six times. He took measurements, drew up floor plans and had a vision. We had a parade of sub contractors through the house until the owner said “NO MORE!”

The timing turned out perfect. About 90 days into the listing, we had an offer. We negotiated an agreement. We then made an offer on the ranch. Turns out we closed on both houses Oct. 23rd. Mike and Jessie moved into a local Hotel for a month while rehabbing and remodeling the ranch. Friday I got to see it for the first time since closing. It was unbelievable!!!

He had completely opened up the kitchen, living room, breakfast room and family room. He had moved the Kitchen to the Dining room and moved the laundry area from the basement to a laundry closet just off the breakfast area. He had turned the three bedrooms to one Master Suite and an office. The full hall bath had been completely remodeled. The Master suite was just gorgeous. The bedroom opened into the Master Bath with corner Jacuzzi tub and large closet. To many upgrades to mention here for a 1961 house. Neighbors have come by to see the house and could not believe it. I commented that the first floor looked like it had been built recently from what I had seen in production housing. Their minister was there when I arrived. He stayed just to
see the expression on my face when I looked at the house for the first time.

Mike’s business concentrated on churches in the past. He tells me that he would rather do smaller projects in the future. He even is looking for bank owned houses to rehab and flip. He has already given me several referrals, one of which has turned into a new Pike listing. Again with wonderful people to work with and they are also looking for another house to buy.

Mike has my highest recommendation for a contractor. Mike looks at a house and has a vision for what it can become. His years of experience has taught him well. He is extremely easy to work and to get along with.

I am getting nothing out of this praise except his friendship and future referrals.

His name is Mike Jones.
His company is Visions Construction Services LLC.
His website is www.visionscm.com
His phone number is 317-506-0561.
Mike knows his business!!!

Several times a year I like to stop by production builders communities, talk to the representative, see what they have going on and see how far they are from being built out. Last week I got the chance to see Ryland’s Northpoint Village. With only about 15 lots left, you had better hurry if you want to live there. I figure they will be gone by the end of this year. Crystal Kjaer, the Sales Counsler, who I had met several years ago filled me in. Right now they have a inventory home (home built with no buyer) that I got to look at. The two story Bradford B has 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, on pond and a full unfinished basement for a total of 2596 square feet. The price is $154,995. In my opinion, a very nice traditional home for the price. Stop by and check it out. Tell Crystal that Tim sent you. Her phone number is 317-228-2390

On Tuesday, August 18, the merger between Pulte Homes and Centex was completed. This merger brought together two industry leaders with a combined 100+ years of experience and long-standing reputations for construction quality.

The College Park theater has closed. After a 25 year run the AMC Loews College Park 14 movie theater says that they cannot compete with the Showplace 12 at Traders Point. It now sits empty.

I have it from a good source that the old Bob Evans restaurant at 9310 Michigan Road is about to become a Grand Traverse Pie Company. I drove by there yesterday and they have torn part of the building down.

We are about to have a new hotel in Intech Park. Hilton Hotels is going to open a full service Garden Inn mid September. It will have 122 rooms, Ballroom space for 180 people, a Great Americian Grill and rates will be between $89 to $199 a night.

My source also tells me that the old Galyans at Lafayette Road and Pike Plaza Road is going to become a Mexican Grocery. Kind of big don’t you think? The old Value City in the same center may become a nightclub.

And lastly…Jack In The Box will be opening their first restaurant in Indiana. My understanding is that it will be located at at 46th and Lafayette Road where the old Amaco gas station use to be. My guess is that there will be many more fast food restaurants opening in the area thanks to the new Wal Mart center across the street.