Circle City

Laying down on the gas feels a little bit like a go-cart, but no one designed an urban road for V-8 engines in the first place, no matter what car commercials show you.

Those who deride the Cultural Trail as a glorified sidewalk should stroll through Fletcher Place. A mere sidewalk does not attract three sleek apartment buildings, 10 independent eateries and bars, and enough house-hunters to quadruple home values.

“Property crimes are the most common type,” says district commander Karen Arnett, “specifically thefts from vehicles.” Not surprising, given the 90,000-plus parking spaces downtown.

“I get it. Indy’s brand is friendliness, cleanliness, and safety. But we’re also a caring community.”

Get to know downtown Indy apartments not by features or floor plans but by these fun nicknames.

Guards Rodney Stockney and Joe Young teamed up to move compost and prepare planting beds.

“Union Station is not vacant. Most of it is leased. However, it’s been difficult to find a use that both pays for the building’s upkeep and, perhaps, showcases its unique qualities.”

Downtown’s new playspace? Rooftops. Here’s where to take your leisure time to another level.

The Best Day Out. Best Sexy Bar. Best Pocket Park. Here are seven new reasons to love the new downtown Indy.

Order secret cocktails. Ditch the sports crowd. Find an instant squad. A few insider tips for winning the weekend in downtown Indianapolis.

“These are all bones for great cities. You pity the cities that don’t have those things. Indianapolis definitely has them. It just needs a little fertilizer, a little water.”

In the next two years, the area’s population will increase by a few thousand people once the Downtown Transit Center, a Cummins headquarters, 360 Market Square tower, Whole Foods, and the 21c Museum Hotel all cut their ribbons within a few blocks.

With ground breaking on a seven-building addition later this year, the young-adult playground will grow even bigger by the end of the decade.

Think back to the jump-roping you might have done in school—all that playground thudding and criss-crossing, while you intoned a few little rhymes. Now add spins, twists, multiple airborne teenagers, and some light breakdancing, and you’ve got the Indy Air Bears.

The kids do everything, from measuring the trees’ diameters, to drilling holes and inserting the pegs that drain the sap, to collecting the sticky stuff.