The IBJ Podcast with Mason King

Five years ago, the head of locally owned Sullivan Hardware & Garden decided to create a Christmas experience for families at his location at East 71st Street and Keystone Avenue. Drawing on his memories of the Santa Express at the former L.S. Ayres department store downtown, Pat Sullivan bought a mini-train, created a North Pole and started selling tickets to families. It was an almost instant hit. And last year, about 35,000 parents and kids rode the train and visited with Santa. Sullivan talks with podcast host Mason King about why the Sullivan Express is so fun for him and his staff but also why it makes business sense to keep expanding the attraction. In fact, the store has invested some $500,000 in the experience already with plans to add more. One note: King initially recorded the podcast for IBJ's weekly Q&A feature, not for the podcast, but we thought it was too interesting to resist using it here as well. King conducted the interview outdoors and not with his usual podcast equipment, so there's a bit of excess background noise. "Up on the rooftop" music courtesy of Heroboard on YouTube. Photo by IBJ's Eric Learned.

The Indianapolis-based Center for Leadership Development has spent more than 40 years helping African American students excel in education and their lives—and it has received support from the Lilly Endowment from the beginning. But now, the endowment has made what officials are calling a "transformational" $11.6 million investment in the organization, which will help it expand the number of students it serves, put satellite locations in particularly needy neighborhoods, take programs directly into schools and expand their center to create more spaces for classrooms and tutoring.  Host Mason King talks with the group's president, Dennis Bland, about those expanded programs as well as how the Center for Leadership Development will do more to mentor students once they're in college. The Lilly grant will allow seed an endowment.   You can read more about the grant at IBJ here.  (Photo courtesy of Center for Leadership Development)   

Indianapolis native DuJaun McCoy is back home with a big project. In April, he purchased WISH-TV Channel 8 and sister station WNDY-TV Channel 23 for $42.5 million, becoming the only black owner of a TV station in a Top 50 market. Now, he's investing $3 million in equipment and a new vehicle fleet to help his team compete. And he's adding more than 20 people to the staff—including more salespeople and journalists, with an emphasis on multicultural and medical reporting. McCoy talks with podcast host Mason King about why he's excited about returning home, his vision for the stations and how he's trying to help other minorities become station owners. To learn more about McCoy, read IBJ reporter Anthony Schoettle's story at IBJ.com.    

When Roger Penske and his Penske Corp. acquire Hulman & Co., they're getting more than just the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and adjacent Brickyard Crossing Golf Course. In fact, Penske is buying some 950 acres in Speedway, about 37% of the land in the town. And Penske wants to turn that land and the community into an "entertainment capital." As an example, he points to the Kansas Speedway, where restaurants, an outdoor mall, major league soccer stadium, minor league baseball stadium, hotels and a casino have developed around the track, which opened in 2011. Podcast host Mason King talked with Penske about his vision for development an entertainment capital and then called up Speedway Town Manager Jacob Blasdel to get his thoughts on the possibilities. Plus, King talks with local developer Mike Wells about whether Penske's vision could become reality. To read more about the development possibilities, read this story from IBJ's Mickey Shuey.               

Managing money should be relatively easy, right? It's just math. Of course, we all know it's actually math plus a bunch of emotions and even baggage. Fear, envy, greed all play into our financial decisions—and sometimes our lack of action. This week, Peter "Pete the Planner" Dunn and host Mason King talk about the five deadly sins of money management, how to spot them and how to manage them. And both admit to some of their own foibles. Plus, Dunn talks about the biggest problem he sees today in money management—and it has a lot to do with all those delivery trucks buzzing around town. You can also read Dunn's latest column for IBJ, which focuses specifically on shame and how it impacts our financial lives.      

If you've spent any time on the Circle this summer, you've probably seen Justin Vining painting the Soldiers & Sailors Monument or the surrounding buildings or even the downtown streets and people. It's part of an effort the attorney-turned-artist is making to raise his profile as he prepares to move out of the popular Harrison Center for the Arts and into his own studio and gallery space in a building he and his brother, an attorney, have purchased. The marketing tactic has worked. People stop, take Vining's card, shoot photos they post on social media and even buy paintings on the spot. Vining then adds data about the painting or the sale to what he calls the "hot sheet," a record of his paintings, their sizes, prices and how long they take to sell—even details about who's buying them. It's part of his data-driven effort to boost his art business. Vining talks to podcast host Mason King about his process—both in creating art and running his business. For more, read Sam Stall's profile of Vining for IBJ.    

Some of downtown Indy's most prominent restaurant locations are empty with the recent closings of Palomino, Hard Rock Cafe, Scotty's and Granite City. But brokers tell IBJ that the restaurant scene is healthy and the closings have more to do with problems at those individual chains. In fact, they say those spots should fill up fairly quickly. In this week's podcast, IBJ real estate reporter Mickey Shuey describes the downtown restaurant scene, with details about what's closing, what's opening and what's coming in the future. Plus, find out where you're likely to spy some IBJ reporters the next time you're out for lunch. To learn more, read Shuey's story in this week's IBJ.    

California Gov. Gavin Newsome two weeks ago signed a bill into law that allows college athletes to profit from the use of their name, image and likeness. And the law expressly prohibits the Indianapolis-based NCAA, its member conferences and schools from barring players from doing so. That's a huge change for college sports, but it didn't come out of the blue. Talk about how to compensate athletes—some of whom play a crucial role in driving ticket sales and alumni donations—has been building for several years. Still, the NCAA has struggled to deal with the issue. In this week's podcast, host Mason King talks through the pluses and minuses for the NCAA, college athletes and universities with reporter Anthony Schoettle, who wrote a story about the impact of the California law in the latest issue of IBJ.    

When Jeff McCabe and his partners first decided to go into business together, the goal was pretty simple: Nashville, Indiana, needed a brewery and they might as well be the ones to open it. So was born Big Woods, the first in a series of related companies that also includes Quaff ON! Brewing Co. and Hard Truth Distilling Co. Big Woods now has restaurants open or getting ready to open in Nashville, Bloomington, Speedway, Franklin, Noblesville and Westfield, while Quaff ON! brews some 10,000 barrels of beer annually, primarily for Big Woods eateries. But the crown jewel is Hard Truth Hills, a distillery/restaurant/entertainment complex on 325 wooded acres just east of Nashville. It opened in July 2018 and brought in 267,000 visitors in its first year.   Podcast host Mason King talks with McCabe, who is executive chairman of the brands' umbrella company, about how the business has evolved, what makes Hard Truth Hills special and what's coming in the future. To learn more about Hard Truth Hills, read Sam Stall's story at IBJ.com.    

Fred Yeakey learned early in his teaching career that one way to have in-depth conversations with his students was to cut their hair. Something about the give-and-take that occurs during that interaction allowed kids to open up in ways he hadn't seen before. And so was born Mr. Yeakey's barber shop—a program the educator has taken with him as he's changed schools.  Today, at Providence Cristo Rey High School, where Yeakey is vice principal of culture and mission, a handful of students gather weekly after school. Some get their hair cut. Others are just there for the conversation about sports, school, trauma, jobs and life. Mr. Yeakey talks with host Mason King about why the barber shop works, what he's learned from his students and how the program could be used at other schools.