City council has no jurisdiction over "extreme" fighting events, according to The Aggregate.

Previously NA Confidential made mention of the promoter's criminal neglect.

Egg on City Hall's face yet again as fly-by-night rasslers exchange body fluids in Vinod Gupta's building.

Here's the rest of the story.

City Council Makes Decision on Extreme Fighting, by Marty Miller (The Aggregate)

 ... At the Council meeting on Monday, August 5, after a long work session, they got around to discussing their findings and possible solutions. Their answers may not be satisfactory to those residents who wanted something done about this type of event, but the truth is that the City Council can’t do anything about it. Other than zoning regulations that already exist, the City Council is actually legally preempted from regulating athletic events that are already under the jurisdiction of the Indiana State Gaming Commission. This means that the local government cannot impose any regulations, restrictions, or otherwise inhibit properly licensed events.

However, there may also be some good news for those concerned about public safety. Trainwreck informed us that they were no longer operating in New Albany. More generally speaking, the Indiana Gaming Commission has a fairly cut and dry policy when it comes to fighting events. Their ordinance states, “no boxing, sparring, or unarmed combat match or exhibition, except as provided in this chapter, may be held or conducted within Indiana except under a license and permit issued by the commission.” Therefore, regardless of the nature of these events, if they do not possess a permit then they can and will be prosecuted under specified sections of Indiana criminal law ...

Egg on City Hall's face yet again as fly-by-night rasslers exchange body fluids in Vinod Gupta's building.

The Jeffersonville newspaper's Thomas does good work on a strange topic. First the rasslin', then the recitation of Team Gahan failure.

Floyd County health official seeks ban on wrestling events, by Jason Thomas

New Albany officials say a wrestling event that took place at 1445 South St. on Sunday was not permissible under the city's zoning ordinances.

NEW ALBANY — A Southern Indiana health official is working to ban amateur wrestling events after a New Albany bout possibly left attendees and participants exposed to potential disease.

The Floyd County Health Department on Thursday issued a news release that urged people who attended Sunday's "Welcome to the Wreckroom" wrestling event on South Street and were exposed to blood or bodily fluids to be tested for possible exposure to HIV and Hepatitis C.

According to Floyd County Health Officer Dr. Tom Harris, the alert was triggered after his department received a complaint by someone who attended the event at 1445 South St.

It's a far cry from folding metal chairs.

At issue is props that were apparently used during Sunday's event — fliers for Sunday's event billed it as "live extreme wrestling" — which involved broken fluorescent lights, according to Harris. Injuries suffered from broken glass can result in large wounds, increasing the chance for transmission of disease. The more people involved, such as wrestlers rolling around on a mat, and you have a "perfect storm" to transmit disease, Harris said.

"That's a lot of different blood sources there, and no attempt to clean the blood off," Harris said. "It's a risk for all concerned."

Another of Harris's concerns is that entities typically have "some form of crowd control, some form or process for a person to give consent to participate in an activity," Harris said. "Nothing we've seen there was anything like that going on. It's a huge risk for transmission of disease."

Here's the fun part. Who owns the building in question?

It's none other than Vinod Gupta, who owns hundreds, maybe thousands of properties all across the country. How do we know about him?

Coming soon: The Gupta Vincennes Revitalization Project, built to Caesar-surface glam standards.

Meanwhile, Vinod Gupta, who lives in Florida, made out like a bandit, tripling his money for six years of do-nothingness. Gupta owns 45 properties in Floyd County, and no doubt hopes the likes of Bob Caesar convinces the city to overpay him for those, too -- I mean, we simply must make the squalor LOOK better, mustn't we?

Gupta bought low and sold HIGH when then-redevelopment honcho David Duggins came calling in 2016, as the city was in the process of overpaying for properties now cleared and tidied for Gahan campaign donor Progressive Land to convert into shoebox micro-apartments at Lancaster Lofts (as always, named for what was bulldozed to make room for new balsa construction).

But there's even more merriment.

The city completely snoozed on Welcome to the Wreckroom, but earlier in the year Gahan's minions were busy harassing Donnie Blevins, whose City Boys sanitation company at the time was using the lot adjacent to Gupta's House of Fluorescent Pain to park his trucks.

"Too much noise," said the same conniving city officials who conspired to push Blevins out of the Street Department, and haven't ceases being petty with the former councilman ever since for purely political reasons, as I explored earlier this year.

ON THE AVENUES: Donnie Blevins tells his story.

Six weeks ago Blevins received another certified letter from the same city functionary, this time citing a vague complaint from an unnamed neighbor about truck noise in the morning, and ordering NA City Boys to cease and desist. There’s a machine shop opposite Blevins’ commercial property, with other industrial users nearby.

There’s also a church where a chief political ally of Gahan’s preaches.

Oops, forgot; Tony "NAHA Adjutant" Toran's church is right across the street.

So there's a health emergency in a rotting building and City Hall is clueless, but if Blevins stick a key in the ignition of a garbage truck just a few steps away, ordinance enforcement is there in seconds.

You know, in New Albany it's really hard to tell where the incompetence ends and the corruption begins.

Nice building in Providence RI. What's it have to do with Market & Vincennes?

WDRB's Jessica Bard investigates the hitherto unknown "micro-loft" movement, coming soon to a concept being planned for the big hole in the ground at the corner of Market and Vincennes.

Paul Barber, Progressive Land Development partner, said his company plans to build a 50-unit micro-loft apartment complex called the Lancaster Lofts.

“Think about it as the tiny house movement brought to apartment living,” he said.

The early plans show the units are only about 300 square feet. The bed sits in a loft on top of the kitchen in some renderings. Barber said the goal is to get young people living close to downtown for an affordable price, between $500 and $900 per month.

If you're the suspicious type like me, you're wondering why Progressive Land Development chose a building at 131 Washington Street in Providence, Rhode Island to illustrate Lancaster Lofts.

I'm guessing it has something to do with these excerpts from the AS220 web site.

Founded by prolific artist, civic leader, and cultural agitator, Umberto Crenca in 1985, AS220 has developed, owns, and operates three buildings (a total of 100,000 sq ft) in Downtown Providence.

One of the buildings owned by AS220 is the Mercantile Block.

In addition to a wide breadth of public programming and our accomplishments in the realm of urban revitalization, AS220 also provides 60 live and work studios, of which 80% are designated affordable housing. This makes AS220 the leading provider of affordable housing in downtown Providence.

AS220 offers residential and work studios in three buildings: the 115 Empire St Complex, the Dreyfus, on the corner of Mathewson and Washington Street and the Mercantile Block, neighboring the Dreyfus at 131 Washington St. AS220 provides space to artists who seek a diverse, stable and affordable studio environment. The residents of the third floor of Empire Street and the Dreyfus and the Mercantile Block studios are a community of ideas rather than simply a community of tenants.

In short, while it may not be exactly what affordable housing proponents are saying, we all can visualize the approaching photo op: "You wanted affordable housing? Right here it is, at Lancaster Lofts! Come and get some."

And, everyone has to begin including affordable housing in their developments, or so City Hall insists is stipulated in the comprehensive plan.

Micro lofts = affordable housing? This could get interesting.

While you're at it, some vintage Gahan campaign finance, with more surely queued at direct deposit.

Wanna bet the eventual design looks nothing like that building in Providence? But is sure looks good on the evening news.

Progressive Land Development proposes to reinvent the wheel at Lancaster Lofts as Deaf Gahan says wait, is that check in the mail yet?

We touched on this a couple of weeks ago.

Lancaster-themed "Micro Lofts" soon will inhabit Duggins' anchor wasteland at the corner of Market and Vincennes.

If there isn't a solid chicken-fried steak with requisite non-lumpy milk gravy coming out of one of the eateries in this planned "Lancaster nostalgia" development -- think of it as Break Wind Too -- then all the retro branding will have been in vain.

Progressive Land Development didn't appear on Mayor Jeff Gahan's massive list of 2017 campaign contributors, although HWC Engineering's president Ed Jolliffe deposited a cool $5k into the coffers. I'm betting PLD makes its debut some time in 2018.

But credit PLD with considerable newspeak savvy: there'll be no restaurants in the commercial space, but food trucks.

Businesses, 'micro' apartments planned for former Lancaster, Market Boy properties, by Danielle Grady (News of Tom May)

NEW ALBANY — “Micro loft” apartments and commercial space will be hallmarks of a project planned for New Albany’s former Tommy Lancaster Restaurant and Market Boy Grocery properties.

The New Albany Redevelopment Commission began seeking developers for the city-owned properties last summer after purchasing and tearing down the iconic, but languishing New Albany businesses. This April, they finally approved a development agreement from the New Albany-based Progressive Land Development company for a three-story, multi-use apartment complex.

Progressive Land Development Owner, Paul Barber, said that New Albany legal counsel is looking over the agreement, which could be finalized within the next couple of weeks, according to Director of City Operations Mike Hall.

The city only received one proposal for the property, but Redevelopment Director Josh Staten is satisfied with Barber’s plans. The city originally asked for a multi-use project, and they got one.

“I think it’s a unique design, it’s something that’s relatively new to the area, and it’s in an area of town that we’re excited about,” Staten said.

Lancaster Lofts: How many square feet in a micro loft? 260? 400? We're about to find out.

Last weekend we surveyed the most recent Redevelopment Commission meeting minutes in search of information about the festering municipal eyesore at the corner of Vincennes and Market.

Lancaster-themed "Micro Lofts" soon will inhabit Duggins' anchor wasteland at the corner of Market and Vincennes.

"Mr. Toole stated that this project will include Micro Lofts, which is a new concept seen in bigger cities, geared towards Millennials and Empty Nesters that want to be able to travel and go and come as they please. Mr. Toole stated that he believes that this concept is fresh to the market country wide but is a hit in the larger Metropolitan Statistical Areas."

The April 10 minutes didn't specify square footage for the micro lofts at Duggins Does Lancaster Lofts, but these units in Detroit are a useful comparison.

A Look Inside Of The Future 260 Square Foot Micro Lofts At The New 28Grand, by Shianne Nocerini (Daily Detroit)

The development may be large, but the units inside are not. We’re talking micro lofts.

You might be wondering what a micro loft is, and it sounds exactly like what it is. It’s a tiny apartment with a touch of a loft sensibility. Each unit will be roughly 260 square feet.

28Grand will be a 101,000 square foot building that will have 218 micro lofts and 13 floors. The units will feature nine foot ceilings and large picture windows that are 6 feet high and 10 feet long.

Or, we can begin the discussion at a whopping 400 square feet. Speaking personally, I think micro lofts are a good idea. Not everyone wants to own a McMansion or rent a conventional apartment.

As for the price of one of these micro lofts, there where Tommy Lancaster Restaurant and Market Boy once stood -- that's going to tell the tale, isn't it?

Would you live in a 400 square foot apartment?, by Rachel Quednau (Strong Towns)

Our friend Joe Minicozzi at the geoanalytics firm Urban3 gives presentations around the country sharing deeply valuable data on which development patterns benefit cities and which do not. In some of these presentations, he likes to share an example of a real estate developer who, back in 1994, chose to fix up an old hotel in downtown Asheville, North Carolina and convert it into small apartments with a store on the bottom floor.

Joe explains that there are three real ways to provide affordable housing: 1) Get an incredible real estate deal, 2) Get it subsidized by a government or nonprofit entity, or 3) Build smaller, no frills homes.

This downtown Asheville development went the latter route. The apartment units were 400 square feet each so they could be offered at a cheap monthly rent.

When Joe presents this project for audiences of elected officials, business people and city leaders around the country, there's typically a reaction along the lines of: Who would live in a 400 square foot apartment? How could they possibly rent these units?

It's at that point that he asks the audience: Okay, do any of you live in a 400 square foot apartment? Sometimes a few people raise their hands, but usually not more than one or two.

Next he asks: Alright, but who in this room has lived in a 400 square foot apartment? All of sudden, the conversation shifts. Lots of people are raising their hands. They're thinking of their college years, their post-graduate days, the period after their divorce, the time they lost their job and had to downsize quickly...

When you're talking to a room full of suits with six-figure household incomes, the idea of a 400 square foot apartment seems ludicrous. They can't imagine anyone living in it and therefore, they don't create the circumstances for it to be built. The local building codes won't readily allow such a small unit, but the city staff and elected leaders don't think twice about it because they can't conceive of a 400 square foot lifestyle. Meanwhile, the bankers don't make financing available for a project like that because, of course, none of them live in 400 square foot apartments, and for the developers, it's the same story. That's why in Asheville, a city of 90,000 people, there were hardly any small apartments available downtown at the time that this building was redeveloped (and there still aren't many today).

But when a room full of powerful people starts reflecting back on their lives, they recognize the specific prism through which they're viewing things. "Sometimes we go into decision making thinking about where we are in our lives," Joe explains. "We take our biases, and assume that needs to be the standard or the rule." This is a serious mistake, though ...

 ... those of us that are happily enjoying affordable small apartments need to make our voices heard and share with those in power that these units work, and that they provide very necessary housing at a reasonable price.

And if you're a banker, a developer, or a local government leader, stop viewing your city only through middle class and middle-aged eyes. Just because a particular form of housing looks utterly unappealing to you at this point in your life, it doesn't mean there aren't plenty of residents who wouldn't gladly live there if it meant an affordable monthly rent. We miss out on so many opportunities to provide housing for people because of this prevailing elitist mindset which says "No one would want to live there!" In fact, there are plenty of people who, when faced with a choice between spending most of their income on housing, or moving in with relatives, or even becoming homeless, would much prefer a small apartment over any of these options.

UPDATE: Redevelopment's proposals for 32 Bank Street and 1629/1637 Market Street.

The grassy expanse at 32 Bank Street is the city-owned space adjacent to the levee recently immortalized by Dan Coffey in "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime to Park During Harvest Homecoming?"

GREEN MOUSE SAYS: Did BOW give Dan Coffey permission to leverage city-owned ground during the Orange Occupation?

The lots in disarray at 1629/1637 Market Street (the Vinod Gupta Vincennes Revitalization Project) are where Tommy Lancaster Restaurant and Market Boy used to stand.

UPDATE: 90 days later, Deaf Gahan's "blight and eyesore" has been superseded by "eyesore and blight" -- and DNA jauntily approves.

Matt Chalfant is the developer behind the proposal at 32 Bank, which presumably will be residential, further complicating the Orange Occupation's plan of operation (and Coffey's pocketbook).

August 8 Minutes

---

August 22 Minutes

The entity submitting a proposal for 1629/1637 Market is Progressive Land Development LLC, with Paul Barber listed as registered agent. Previous public announcements by disgraced former redevelopment kingpin David Duggins suggest that mixed use (residential and retail) are desired in this location.

Redevelopment minutes for October have not been posted, and these the August record provides no more detail than you can see in these excerpts.

Do you have more detailed information? Let me know. The 3rd floor oddly has become reticent in communicating with the blog.

Shrug.

UPDATE: 90 days later, Deaf Gahan's "blight and eyesore" has been superseded by "eyesore and blight" -- and DNA jauntily approves.

(October above; August below)

Boy, what a difference three months makes. Now two-way traffic on Market affords motorists an entirely different view of the former eyesore.

As the Green Mouse says, "Those gaping holes and half-buried debris are all autumnal and shit."

Too bad the USA is dropping out of UNESCO, or else we might have a new tourist landmark: The Duggins Cool-newal Urban World Heritage Site.

I wonder how many public housing units would fit in this space?

---

August 6, 2017: Thanks, Gahan: Deaf called it "a blight and eyesore for the area," so he acted swiftly ... to create another one in its place.

Curiously, NAC's forensics department verifies that Team Gahan only recently has been on the site it has helped keep derelict.

Back in March, a scandal-plagued Jeff Gahan explained why he had to demolish buildings at the corner of Market and Vincennes. He didn't say anything about creating a post-industrial wasteland in the aftermath, but maybe the memo got lost when Duggins took all the city's bulldozers over to the New Albany Housing Authority ... with Democratic Party approval.

But wait.

Maybe it's another case of contractor error.

Previously:

Once again, NA Confidential handily scoops Jeff Gahan's flailing propaganda commissariat, so let's take a glance at the mayor's new theme park.

River Run Family Waterpark is doing so well that an aquatic sequel is planned for the former Market Boy acreage.

---

As an addendum, NA Confidential has been unable to confirm whether New Albany Mayor Jeff M. Gahan or anyone working in the city's administration is under federal investigation or indictment for corruption, bribery or racketeering. It is standard policy of the U.S. Justice Department to refuse to confirm or deny the existence or non-existence of investigations or subjects of investigations. A similar policy exists at the F.B.I.

Thanks, Gahan: Deaf called it "a blight and eyesore for the area," so he acted swiftly ... to create another one in its place.

Curiously, NAC's forensics department verifies that Team Gahan only recently has been on the site it has helped keep derelict.

Back in March, a scandal-plagued Jeff Gahan explained why he had to demolish buildings at the corner of Market and Vincennes. He didn't say anything about creating a post-industrial wasteland in the aftermath, but maybe the memo got lost when Duggins took all the city's bulldozers over to the New Albany Housing Authority ... with Democratic Party approval.

But wait.

Maybe it's another case of contractor error.

Previously:

Once again, NA Confidential handily scoops Jeff Gahan's flailing propaganda commissariat, so let's take a glance at the mayor's new theme park.

River Run Family Waterpark is doing so well that an aquatic sequel is planned for the former Market Boy acreage.

---

As an addendum, NA Confidential has been unable to confirm whether New Albany Mayor Jeff M. Gahan or anyone working in the city's administration is under federal investigation or indictment for corruption, bribery or racketeering. It is standard policy of the U.S. Justice Department to refuse to confirm or deny the existence or non-existence of investigations or subjects of investigations. A similar policy exists at the F.B.I.

As Duggins juggles hats and pay stubs, Redevelopment seeks a developer to shower with largess.

When the newspaper reported this story several days after you read it here first ...

Public Housing Putsch '17: Gahan, Trump remain in lock step as sycophants queue after the NAHA's director of finance resigns.

... it was noted that David Duggins remains on the city's payroll. But can he be on the city's payroll at the same time as serving as interim NAHA director? Isn't this both a federal and state violation?

By the way, if anyone knows the identity of the new insurance carrier for NAHA employees, can you let the Green Mouse know? Seems the bobbleheaded board of sycophants tabled the vote at the last public meeting, then took it into a closed door meeting.

According to Gahanism, this suggests a successful bid by Bob Norwood, who also is seated on the board. But what do we know?

Oh, yes; there's this. Redevelopment is looking for someone to subsidize. Have I started inadvertently repeating myself?

New Albany officials ask developers for ideas on Market Boy, Tommy Lancaster properties, by Elizabeth Beilman (Gahan Fluff Monster)

Redevelopment commission hoping for mixed use developments

NEW ALBANY — The famous Tommy Lancaster Restaurant and Market Boy Grocery are only memories to locals now, but soon the empty properties could hold brand new developments.

The New Albany Redevelopment Commission is advertising a request for proposals for the Market Street properties, as well as a grassy lot along Bank Street near the Underground Station.

"They're properties that have been underdeveloped ... in the case of Tommy Lancaster and Market Boy, they were blights to the neighborhood," New Albany Redevelopment Director David Duggins said.

The commission is asking for mixed-use developments for both, a concept that involves first-floor retail and upper-floor residential space often seen in urban settings.

The proposals don't request anything more detailed than "mixed use," in terms of the type of development. The commission is asking developers provide specifics on construction timeline, funding and other matters.

"Basically, [the proposals] ask for a developer to come to us to say what they would do there," Duggins said.

River Run Family Waterpark is doing so well that an aquatic sequel is planned for the former Market Boy acreage.

Then again, maybe a pit filled with brackish water serves as metaphor, and a major Democratic Party donor is about to be fellated by assuming the task of erecting a structure on land owned by the Redevelopment Commission.

Or -- maybe it's just a pit, and the brackish water is a diversion.

Son of a Duggins-geddon It: Tommy Lancaster Restaurant dies so that Gahan campaign monetization might live.

Half a block has been cleared without input from an elected official apart from the mayor himself. Coming next to this corner?

All hail redevelopment!

For demolition fetishists, don't worry -- we haven't left you out!

If a CVS materializes here, I'm going to start throwing Molotov cocktails.

Duggins-geddon It: Market Boy dies so that Gahan campaign monetization might live.

Once again, NA Confidential handily scoops Jeff Gahan's flailing propaganda commissariat, so let's take a glance at the mayor's new theme park.

Duggins-geddon It: Market Boy dies so that Gahan campaign monetization might live.

As you can see, the former Tommy Lancaster Restaurant still stands, but it's only a matter of time. Coming next to this corner?

All hail redevelopment!

Once again, NA Confidential handily scoops Jeff Gahan's flailing propaganda commissariat, so let's take a glance at the mayor's new theme park.

Clark County newspaper's New Albany editor capably eulogizes the late Tommy Lancaster Restaurant.

February 5, 2011: Tommy Lancaster's is no more.

Let's give credit where credit is due, because Chris Morris excels at eulogies, whether for people or buildings (below).

At the same time, it still strikes me as telling that throughout the process of the city purchasing properties in the vicinity of the former Tommy's, the fated verdict has been accepted without question.

The city will work non-transparently to purchase buildings; there will be no opinion proffered by the usual historic preservation watchdogs; the demolitions will follow in short order; and everyone at the newspaper from Morris on down will rinse and repeat: "Tommy’s, the building, needed to be torn down."

Probably. But of course, given this was the pre-determined outcome. How do we know for sure, when nothing about the process was above board, and everything about the process was intended to produce a pre-conceived result?

Enjoy your meals.

MORRIS: Tommy's was the perfect place, by Chris Morris (That Clark County Paper)

... If there was ever a New Albany institution, it was Tommy Lancaster Restaurant. The food was great, the beer was cheap, and it was a place where everyone in New Albany — from the rich and famous to the guy down the street who came in after work — gathered.

Once again, NA Confidential handily scoops Jeff Gahan's flailing propaganda commissariat, so let's take a glance at the mayor's new theme park.

Can someone help us out? Is this a scene from the 1917 twister, the 2017 public housing action plan or the remodeled front room at Tommy Lancaster's? Is there broaster chicken yet?

Discussions here at the blog started over the weekend.

It looks like the demolition of the old Tommy Lancaster's on Market is underway. Presumably, Gahanesque luxury is on the horizon.

The fever for Redevelopment Commission demolition: Lancaster's is coming down, Market Boy is next and incentives are sure to follow.

Now, four days later, City Hall has gotten around to revealing the latest "fix" to occur without substantive public discussion -- perhaps another gentrification project embellished in late-period Suburban Balsa architectural design, coming soon to Uptown just as soon as the abatements, incentives and sewer tap-in waivers are inked.

Verily, Gahan's still "not finished yet," but exactly what do you bequeath a city when you've already tiffed it a luxury indoor astroturf-clad recreation center, a luxury water slide, a luxury apartment complex and a luxury dog grooming park?

The Green Mouse has learned that the mayor plans to fill the space between Market, Vincennes and King Streets with a tourist attraction called Fort Gahan.

As a replica of the Colonial-era trading post built by the pioneering Gahan family, who since January 1, 2012 have officially predated the arrival to New Albany of those upstart poseur Scribners, Fort Gahan will feature an interactive museum dedicated to the city's founding Mac Eacháin family (their name later was shortened to "Jeff"), complete with a trendy eatery priced to suit the beautiful people; children's games like pin-the-tail-on-the-progressive, and a streamlined 24-hour campaign finance portal.

But first, down with those nasty buildings. Take it away, Mike; after all, we know you really said it, not him.

Demolition to Begin Next Week

March 21, 2017

Revitalization set to begin at Vincennes and East Market Streets. The New Albany Redevelopment Commission obtained possession of the old Tommy Lancaster’s Restaurant and Market Boy Convenient Store. Both structures, over years of neglect, have become eyesores and blight in the area. Tommy Lancaster’s Restaurant once served thousands of customers over several decades. However, the restaurant closed in 2011 and has been vacant and deteriorating since its closing. Market Boy, which sits adjacent to Tommy’s, has not seen any improvements for years and too has become a blight and eyesore for the area.

Both properties, Tommy’s and Market Boy, are set to be razed in the coming week. The properties were evaluated and determined to be unsalvageable. Upon demolition, the Redevelopment Commission will begin the process of revitalization by putting the properties together in a Request for Proposal to spur economic development in that area and along the Vincennes corridor.

“Tommy’s and Market Boy are two establishments that have served our community well over the years,” stated Mayor Jeff Gahan, “but it is exciting to facilitate and make way for brand new development here in New Albany.”

The fever for Redevelopment Commission demolition: Lancaster's is coming down, Market Boy is next and incentives are sure to follow.

The minutes from September, 2016 (above) tell the story, as we'd already surmised here:

It looks like the demolition of the old Tommy Lancaster's on Market is underway. Presumably, Gahanesque luxury is on the horizon.

The bids were discussed in February, 2017 (March commission meeting minutes aren't yet available).

Potential incentives, abatements, municipal partnerships and campaign finance courtesy parameters have yet to be announced ... publicly, that is. Here is the satellite view of future luxury:

It looks like the demolition of the old Tommy Lancaster's on Market is underway. Presumably, Gahanesque luxury is on the horizon.

Only the functionaries deep within the shadowy bowels of the Redevelopment Commission know for sure, but they're not talking, and it appears the building formerly housing the Tommy Lancaster restaurant is being gutted in preparation for whatever TIF-laden grandiosity is to come.

Last April, we looked at the gradual process by which absentee owner Vinod Gupta's properties on Market and King Streets were being absorbed by the city of New Albany.

Have a look at Vinod Gupta's Discounted IN Properties.

It turns out that the Floridian seller, Vinod Gupta, is a big-time dealer in "discounted" properties (thanks to T for the link).

And this:

Coming soon: The Gupta Vincennes Revitalization Project, built to Caesar-surface glam standards.

Meanwhile, Vinod Gupta, who lives in Florida, made out like a bandit, tripling his money for six years of do-nothingness. Gupta owns 45 properties in Floyd County, and no doubt hopes the likes of (Bob) Caesar convinces the city to overpay him for those, too -- I mean, we simply must make the squalor LOOK better, mustn't we?

Recent Elevate map excerpts (below) show that Gupta's former parcels near (and including) the former Lancaster's have been snatched up by the city, in addition to what used to be Market Boy. Fronting King Street, two city-owned parcels are separated from each other by three properties identified only as "NULL" at the database, suggesting that all five have been joined together.

The vacant corner lot at Vincennes and King remains in private hands. One wonders for how long, and whether a soccer stadium can be made to fit in such a small area. I'm also curious about the city being listed as owner of the railroad right-of-way (final map).

It is probable that Main Street-style beautification lies in store for this area. It's the most efficient means of campaign finance monetization for Jeff Gahan, and we've already outlined his predictably wasted opportunity to civilize Vincennes Street utilizing Jeff Speck's sensible plan.

Imagine heavy trucks still roaring past on Vincennes, with a few garish (and subsidized) painted ladies in a row on King Street, and suburban-style strip mall on the Market Street side, complete with vape shop, nail salon and payday loan operation. Develop New Albany will fall over itself to commission plaques and Pillar awards. Caesar will be delighted; see how nice it all looks now?

Then, when beaks are wet and rosy, perhaps someone can remind the mayor that he hasn't even gotten the $3 million Main Street Rosenbargerization Project right.

Walkability? Fat chance.

Then again, those millions don't tell the whole story, as now the seasonal landscaping and park-like maintenance of Main Street is underway again, thereby enhancing the property values of adjoining advocates of beautification who have continued to insist against all human rationality that none of this was intended to enhance their property values ... but me, I'm waiting for my verge to be similarly manicured, although I'd forego the manicure if they'd just remove the stumps that have been moldering out there for so many years, and of course I'd be even happier if my council representative beamed back down and actually noticed ANY of these things right in front of his house.

In New Albany, holding your breath surely helps with the stench, but you run the risk of suffocating before anyone in a position of authority beholds the obvious.