The Carmel City Center transforms local economy, downtown scene

By Mackenzie Madison
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Some could be put off by the $300 million price tag and what it means for taxpayers, others by its possible threat to locally owned businesses; nevertheless, according to Mayor Jim Brainard, the Carmel City Center project forecasts a great stimulant in the local economy.

According to stats.indiana.edu, a website that publishes tax rates and other public information, taxes in Carmel have actually dropped over the last few years in which the project has taken place, and, according to Brainard, those $300 million have already been invested back into the area.

“When there’s public money involved, there’s questions, as there should be,” Brainard said. “But this is a very positive thing in attracting investment to an area that wasn’t getting any. And that’s our goal for the public-private partnership.”
Senior Lauren Wiegand whose mother previously owned the Simply Sweet Shoppe on Main Street is one of those who expresses concern with the Carmel City Center project.

“There is always a fear that something will happen to your family business, especially when you have so much of your life invested in it,” Wiegand said. “However, that threat is always a possibility, especially when chain stores are able to sell products cheaper and in larger volume than other smaller retailers.”

Brainard, on the other hand, looks at this competition as a positive.

“(Small and large businesses) can thrive together; the country’s all about competition and how competition makes all businesses better with the recognition that some will fail and others will succeed,” Brainard said.

Senior Andrew Aisen says he agrees with the mayor and that he also has high hopes for the project in his search for a job.
“I look forward to the opening of the Carmel City Center chiefly because it will give people, including myself, an opportunity to work and earn money,” Aisen said. “In my view, whether a business is big or small is irrelevant, it’s the growth in competition and the job market that is important to the economy and myself.”

Luckily for Aisen, Brainard says that the Carmel City Center will be employing over 2,000 people directly or indirectly.
Even though Wiegand said she has her concerns about the Carmel City Center, she said she does think that this could benefit Carmel’s downtown.

“I think that it will bring new people to the downtown Carmel area and increase support of all businesses nearby,” Wiegand said.

“The close proximity to the Arts District can be looked at as a positive aspect. Despite the concerns that the new Carmel City Center will draw people away from Main Street, I think that eventually we will see more people shopping locally in both locations.”

Brainard said that this symbiotic relationship was no coincidence.

“We want people to walk into the City Center and walk into Old Town, but maybe in the middle there could be a restaurant or two for people to live in the area. But it’s about trying to work with the private sector and to create special places that make Carmel more competitive.”

This is actually all part of Brainard’s plan to implement new urbanism in Carmel. According to Brainard this is a concept that combines living space, work and play without extensive use of transportation.

“The key parts to new urbanism, sometimes we call it traditional neighborhood design, is a city before cars,” Brainard said. “People had to walk to places. It’s mixed use. It’s corner stores. It’s retail in the same building as houses or apartments above it. But at the same time, it’s not skyscrapers like in New York City. It’s urbanism prior to the three dimensional structural steel in the late 1800s. It’s generally no more than eight or nine stories. And so it’s built on a human scale and focuses on street life. It focuses on walkability, public parks.”

Although Carmel has grown exponentially over the last decade, Brainard said that even after this project is finalized, there is still more that can be done.

“Cities,” he said, “are never finished.”