Indianapolis - The old 50-yard line is quickly becoming the heart of an expanded Indiana Convention Center, a $275 million project that officials say is on schedule.

But during a media tour Thursday, you could hardly tell where that symbolic RCA Dome line was. Along with a sea of dirt, the scene was filled with steel beams, tall cranes and more than 200 hardhats.

The convention center -- undergoing its fourth expansion since it opened in 1972 -- is quickly taking shape along Capitol Avenue, where it will connect with Lucas Oil Stadium and become the nation's 16th-largest convention center complex.

Although work was slowed after the death of a construction worker last month, the pace has picked up. On Thursday, more than 100 contractors and 220 crewmen were on-site.

"It's been a symphony of logistics of trucks and men," said Tom Scheele, a project executive with Shiel Sexton, the project managers along with Powers and Sons of Gary.

Most of the work has been concentrated on the northwest corner of the site, near the existingconvention center. Officials say work on this section is 80 percent complete and will be ready by fall.

The rest of the site -- future exhibit space that will extend south toward the stadium -- still is mostlybare as crews concentrate on shoring up a concrete retaining wall at the CSX tracks, which run between the stadium and the construction site.

Bill Benner, a spokesman for the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association, said the new convention hall already has 75 groups booked for events through 2024.

"They will bring 2.8 million attendees, 1.4 million hotel room nights and about $1.7 billion in spending," Benner said.

Scheele said the project should be completed by late December 2010.

Reported by TheIndyStar.com

Labels: Indiana Convention Center, Powers and Sons, Shiel Sexton, Tom Scheele

Indianapolis-- While Keep Indianapolis Beautiful Inc.has greened countless corners of the city, it's what the organization has done to its own space that has earned it an environmental honor of the highest kind.

A year after moving into its new headquarters in Fountain Square, KIB became the first civic nonprofit in the state to be awarded gold-level certification in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, by the U.S. Green Building Council.

"In the work that KIB does, we aim to make an aesthetic, human and environmental impact. Choosing green design for our new office was an incredible way for KIB to embody its mission," said the organization's president, David Forsell.

Once a contaminated property and abandoned warehouse at the corner of Fletcher Avenue and Shelby

Street, architects overhauled the building with an energy-efficient design in mind, weighing environmental and economic options in hopes of earning the coveted certification.

The Outside

The green theme begins in the parking lot which, besides its bike racks and reserved spots for high efficiency vehicles, might look like any other black slab in the city.

But the asphalt lookalike known as pervious pavement actually allows water to filter through it, helping to feed two nearby rain gardens teaming with native plant species.

The gardens, along with a 10,000-gallon cistern next to the building, keep 42 percent of the site's rainwater out of the city's fragile combined sewer system, according to KIB.

While it was determined that the top of the building couldn't support the growing qualities of a green roof, it is painted white in an effort to reflect the sun's rays, cutting the building's energy use by 12.5 percent.

The outdoor landscape also includes two windmills that are as much pieces of art as they are vessels to create power and awareness about alternative energy sources.

The Inside

Once inside, the 7,000-square foot office space flows around a central atrium designed to bring light into the conference rooms, cubicles and offices that border it. "The atrium wasn't something that was necessarily done for the LEED certification, as much as it's really a quality of life thing," said KIB Vice President of Public Relations and Development Linda Broadfoot. "We've done as much as we can to get natural light in the building." To that end, there aren't many solid doors or walls in the space, with offices closed off in glass and cubicle dividers made from repurposed metal mesh.

Where there are lights, Broadfoot said most are turned to low power when they're on at all, and in individual spaces, like offices and bathrooms, sensors are used to cut energy costs.

Conservation is also key in the bathrooms, where waterless urinals trim consumption by 7,000 gallons or more annually.

Underfoot, carpet squares made from recycled materials line the lobby, while much of the rest of the spaceis accented by original cement floors, polished to an urban chic shine.

KIB's trailers, trucks and supplies are kept in an adjoining warehouse on one side of the building, while6,500-square-feet to accommodate another tenant lines the other. For the organization's dozen or so fulltime employees, the atmosphere mirrors KIB's mission, green and otherwise.

"We don't belong in an office building on Meridian Street, that's not who we are. We're grassroots," Broadfoot said. "We think we're fun, we think we're pretty hip, so we wanted to be in a space that reflected that and that fit into the urban community that we're in."

Public tours are offered of the space at 4 p.m. on the first Monday of each month.

The building is one of more than two dozen LEED-certified projects in the state, and one of six inIndianapolis.

Reported by TheIndyChannel.com

Labels: David Forsell, Green Building, Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, LEED certification, Shiel Sexton, USGBC