Carmel's Urbanism Realized

I gave a tour to a group of Plan Commission members from a Midwestern suburb recently. It was a lively morning capped by lunch on Carmel's Main Street. While highlighting projects on Old Meridian Street, in City Center, and along Main Street it hit me how much development has occurred here recently. How did this city of a relatively small size (appx.80,000pop) transform itself from typical American edge-city/suburb into an icon of small-scale urbanism in just 10 years? Today there are three distinct urban neighborhoods including the City Center/Palladium district, the Arts & Design District (its true “Downtown” in my view) and the Old Meridian District. While there is still a lot of room for more development, all three of them have come into their own in the last couple of years - and in this economic period. Call it vision. Call it leadership. Call it market demand. Whatever it is, its remarkable. See photos of buildings from our tour below. Also, here is a partial list of urban/mixed-use projects completed recently in Carmel that we visited:

1. Our own Penn Circle to start in 2011 - apartments and retail space
2. Providence at Old Meridian apartments, townhomes, retail and office space
3. Sunrise on Old Meridian - Senior Living
4. City Center Apartments
5. Residences at City Center apartments, office, and retail space
6. Old Town on the Monon apartments and retail space
7. Sophia Square apartments and retail space
8. Indiana Design Center office and retail space