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BlueIndy stations get attention of Fountain Square business owners

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The BlueIndy car business is growing across the metro area with the next set of charging stations in Fountain Square.

The car-sharing company lets anyone rent their all-electric vehicles.

But the charging stations along Virginia Avenue north of Woodlawn Avenue take up permanent space. Some people are worried the electric rideshare cars won’t be worth the investment of these valuable parking spots.

Construction cones now take the place of parked cars in front of American Hardware in Fountain Square.

Owner Lawrence Kaseff is worried about already limited parking for customers.

“You have roughly not even 10 parking spaces for all these businesses. You’ve taken out a lot of businesses,” said Kaseff.

There will be five spaces for the cars along Virginia Avenue north of the fountain.

“The site will be finished and we’ll test it and the cars will start arriving in mid-to-late August,” said Scott Prince, general manager of BlueIndy.

Prince says extensive planning went into choosing this location.

“IndyGo has been a phenomenal partner, so they’ve done a lot with us to help us understand urban planning and the routes to make sure we’re putting these stations in the optimal locations for where people live and where they go during their average day,” said Prince.

But Kaseff is worried customers won’t use the car rental and will just take their business elsewhere.

“It’s a good concept but to take valuable, prime parking spaces away from patrons that want to be close to that business – they don’t want to walk five miles to get there,” said Kaseff.

Prince is hopeful that the idea will catch on in Fountain Square and ultimately be a boon for shops like American Hardware.

“A way to increase the churn of parking, which should bring more customers to their establishments,” said Prince.

Some businesses WISH-TV spoke with Monday that are just a bit from this block are hopeful those BlueIndy cars will bring in more customers and raise turnover.