Alysa Guffey

Alysa Guffey covers how growth, real estate development and business decisions reshape Indianapolis and its surrounding communities for the Indianapolis Star. Her beat centers on developments that physically change neighborhoods and the incentives that make them possible, from mixed-use housing and retail projects to large-scale data centers and corporate expansions. She writes as a business and growth reporter, taking real estate stories beyond transactions to show the policy, financial and community stakes behind each project.

Crown Hill mixed-use project and neighborhood pushback

Guffey’s coverage of the northwest corner of 34th and Illinois streets shows how she follows a single site through multiple stages of the development process. She reported on the fight over a proposed 99‑unit apartment complex known as The Ritz, explaining the developer’s plan to turn vacant lots into new housing while adding a modest amount of ground‑floor retail space. She detailed residents’ concerns about the balance between apartments and commercial space, their desire for more nearby stores and services, and the broader context of existing multifamily buildings in the area.

When the Metropolitan Development Commission later approved the Crown Hill mixed‑use project, she focused on the specifics of the vote, the parking reductions and the way city staff encourage dense, transit‑adjacent development near the IndyGo Red Line. She captured neighborhood leaders’ arguments for more extensive retail and their worries about where future residents will shop, while also noting the developer’s view that similar projects have struggled to fill storefronts.

Across these stories, she uses zoning decisions, site plans and local testimony to show how real estate projects play out as contested changes to the fabric of a neighborhood.

Data center tax breaks and development policy

Guffey frequently covers data center projects and the public incentives attached to them, treating these developments as both real estate deals and major policy decisions. In her reporting on a large data center in Decatur Township, she laid out the scale of the investment and the roughly $240 million package of real and personal property tax breaks granted by development officials, noting that the incentive is among the largest in recent memory. She described resistance from nearby residents, the commission’s rationale for approving the project, and the structure of the multi‑year tax abatements secured by the developer.

Her coverage of a planned data center in Martindale Brightwood tracks a similar theme, explaining how economic development staff recommended tax breaks worth up to $56 million and argued that the project would not proceed without the savings. She reports on the negotiation between city officials and the developer over incentives, anchoring the story in the physical build‑out as well as its long‑term fiscal impact. In a separate piece on the citywide moratorium on new data centers, she describes how the Metropolitan Development Commission approved a temporary ban through the end of 2027, presenting the ordinance as a first‑of‑its‑kind pause on such projects and noting its timing relative to the next citywide election.

Taken together, these articles show her focus on how regulations, incentives and political timelines govern the pace and shape of real estate development.

Downtown Indianapolis trends and retail growth

Guffey’s work often steps back from individual projects to explain broader trends in the core of the city. In a piece breaking downtown Indianapolis into “five major trends,” she uses a structured, explanatory format to show how different sectors and project types together describe the state of downtown. She writes business and development stories that connect streetscape changes, new buildings and tenant shifts to overarching patterns in investment and activity.

Her reporting on upcoming developments highlights the prominence of hotel and hospitality projects, including new branded properties entering the market and high‑profile openings near key venues. She chronicles how these arrivals contribute to a changing skyline and visitor experience while situating them within a larger annual look at projects launching across the city. In coverage of a Tom Brady‑branded sports memorabilia store planned for downtown, she treats the store as part of the city’s evolving retail mix, linking a national sports figure’s venture to local commercial real estate and foot‑traffic dynamics. Across these stories, she shows particular interest in the intersection of retail growth, tourism‑oriented development and the everyday life of downtown streets.

Corporate real estate, employers and investment

Beyond individual neighborhoods and downtown blocks, Guffey regularly covers corporate projects whose real estate decisions carry significant employment and investment implications. In reporting on a new Amazon facility that will bring 300 jobs to Greenwood, she connects the arrival of a major employer to the development of a specific site and its role in the regional economy.

She focuses on business outcomes while maintaining attention to how the facility fits into broader patterns of industrial and logistics development.

Her coverage of Eli Lilly’s 150th anniversary emphasizes the company’s upswing in research and investment, tying corporate strategy to physical expansions and the growth of facilities tied to the firm’s presence in the city.

She treats anniversaries and milestones as opportunities to examine how long‑standing institutions continue to shape local development. In an obituary for David Simon, leader of Simon Property Group, she frames his death through his role at a global retail real estate company, underscoring how a single executive’s decisions influenced malls and shopping environments far beyond one market.

These stories reflect a consistent interest in the ways large organizations use property, capital and infrastructure to drive change in both the skyline and the labor market.

Across beats, Guffey writes business and development coverage that keeps real estate at the center while weaving in tax policy, corporate strategy and resident experience. Her reporting is grounded in specific projects, commission votes and site plans, with an emphasis on explaining how each decision alters the city’s built environment and the people who live and work within it.