‘We’ll wait and see’: Businesses along Purple Line hope for boost

(MIRROR INDY) — The counters inside Kings Cleaners & Alterations are dusty.

The shop’s owner, Migyungi Kim, swipes her index finger across the black base of a computer monitor and leaves behind a streak.

“Every morning we clean off the desk,” she said.

That’s how it’s been ever since construction started on the Purple Line, the second of IndyGo’s bus rapid transit projects that will run from Lawrence to the downtown Julia M. Carson Transit Center.

There’s a Purple Line stop on the other side of the parking lot that separates the store from the street, at the corner of North Post Road and Pendleton Pike in Lawrence.

As Kim spoke on the morning of Oct. 8, a few workers were putting final touches on the elevated stop, sweeping the concrete and cleaning window panes.

Kim thinks it’s possible the Purple Line will help attract new customers once the route opens Oct. 13.

It’s not like people carry clothes that need to be cleaned and altered everywhere they go, but more riders could mean more eyes that see her business.

That’s Kim’s hope, anyway.

“We’ll wait and see,” she said..

Up and down the Purple Line, businesses have been adjusting for more than two years because of construction. Lane closures and blocked entrances created headaches.

But enduring temporary pain is supposed to lead to lasting economic impact — both for businesses that already exist and new development to come.

Indy Chamber and the nonprofit Midtown Indy have projected $83 million of investment along the Purple Line.

Susanna Taft Illig, interim director of Develop Indy, which is part of the chamber, said it could take up to 10 years to see the full impact of large-scale development.

“The key is that the Purple Line provides a foundation,” Taft Illig said in an emailed statement. “It’s not just about what we build — it’s about how we build it with the community, making sure that local voices are part of the conversation.”

Still, some development is already here.

At the corner of East 38th Street and North Arlington Avenue, the newest Eskenazi Health addition offers primary and specialty care. There’s also mental health care and other services such as financial counseling.

A Purple Line stop at the intersection provides easy access to the facility.

The same stop will serve a Cook Medical device manufacturing plant that opened in 2022. As far back as 2020, Cook Medical President Pete Yonkman cited the Purple Line as a factor in choosing that location.

And at the far end of the route in Lawrence, Ivy Tech is planning to close its campus that was to serve as the last stop on the line. That land — part of the larger Fort Benjamin Harrison site — could become an attractive location for redevelopment, though it’s too early to know what may come.

The idea of a bus rapid transit route stirring development isn’t purely hypothetical for Indianapolis.

Indy Chamber and Midtown Indy report $709 million spread throughout around 30 developments along the Red Line, which opened in 2018.

Looking even further ahead, the still-to-come Blue Line that will connect Cumberland to the Indianapolis International Airport is projected to bring $509 million in development.

But within those flashy numbers lies some uncertainty — and even doubt — as businesses get ready for the Purple Line to open.

That uncertainty stretches to businesses that have been around for years.

‘We’ll just have to see’

At Depot Liquors, Angel Coss is checking out a flurry of customers on a Tuesday afternoon.

Coss seems to already know everyone who comes in. She said a lot of people walk to the store, which sits in a plaza at the corner of East 38th Street and North Franklin Road.

For her drivers, though, they’ve had to get used to either using the Franklin Road entrance or only being able to turn right on 38th Street. It’s a relatively small change, but enough to make customers grumble as they slide a 12-pack into the rotating glass compartment at the checkout counter.

But what’s become an adjustment for some could create opportunity for others.

Because Coss said some customers already ride the bus to the plaza, which also includes a Haitian restaurant and hair braiding business.

Coss can see a future Purple Line stop from the front of her store, but she doesn’t want to make a prediction about how many people it will send her way.

“We’ll just have to see,” she said.

Elsewhere, skepticism teeters on cynicism.

On North Post Road, in a small plaza at the corner of East 46th Street, Mary Orr is serving drinks to the early afternoon crowd at Sports Page Lounge.

Orr was fed up with construction. She said she’s already seen car crashes that she blames on the road work.

The good news, though, is that construction didn’t seem to put a dent in business.

“Just because they know how to get around it,” Orr said.

As for the Purple Line bringing new faces into the bar, Orr doesn’t see that happening. “Hell no,” she said.

Sports Page Lounge is a local joint, Orr said, advertising $13 beer buckets and a good spot to catch a Colts game.

She doesn’t think anyone riding the bus is coming inside.

It could take months to assess the impact on individual businesses, though, especially since the Purple Line will open shortly before the cold winter months.

But down the road, there’s optimism about what the project could mean in Lawrence, a city built around a former U.S. Army post.

‘It should be a huge asset’

Keith Johnson, executive director of the Lawrence Redevelopment Commission, keeps coming back to two words when describing the Purple Line: excitement and connectivity.

Excitement because it’s been eight years since Marion County voters approved a tax increase to fund the Purple Line and two other bus rapid transit projects.

Connectivity because Johnson sees an opportunity to capitalize on development. At the Fort Benjamin Harrison Army base, which closed in 1991, there are 4,000 people who live in what has become a cultural center.

Now, the Purple Line will expand access to a site that was once closed off to the general public.

And along Post Road, Johnson said existing businesses — including Hispanic grocery stores — will be among the biggest beneficiaries.

“It should be a huge asset for the city,” Johnson said.

Mirror Indy reporter Tyler Fenwick covers economics. Contact him at 317-766-1406 or tyler.fenwick@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @ty_fenwick.