Is the beginning of the end quite near? According to the IBJ, Hearthview Residential - a local developer known for some really terrific projects like Mill No. 9, Lockerbie Terrace and the Athletic Club - has recently acquired a local apartment building of some significance. Though not necessarily the most upscale property in the area, the College Court Apartments near 54th & College is on its way to becoming condos.
Always inhabited by an eclectic mix of artists, musicians, bohemians, bums, college students, professionals, geeks and weirdos, this little hunk of Real Estate is - or was - a micro view of the best of what Indianapolis has to offer. All sorts of people living in relative harmony, existing in and around a progressive historic neighborhood.
Are those days gone? Will affordable, high-density living exist in the Meridian Kessler area much longer? Do we think that people who chose to live in rental properties paying $600 a month will now choose to purchase a condo for $200,000? Or will the best of the odd be squeezed out by hipsters, GenXers and cookie-cutter, Kenneth Cole-attired clones? Is 54th & College - I've always called it 4 Corners - set to be sterilized? Will Moe & Johnny's (formerly The Bulldog) become an Applebee's? The Jazz Kitchen a Panera? Cornerstone a Starbuck's?
Let's hope not. Let's all hope that the soul and style and energy that is embodied in this old '20's building doesn't move too far, dispersed like so much flotsam into who-knows-where.
I think I'll stop by Yat's very soon before it morphs into a Quizno's.
xoxoxo
joeshoe
