Market Tower stands straight ahead, easy to spot with its grid-like red and gray granite façade, glassy blue windows, and that copper roof crowned by eight spires reaching toward the sky.
Alright, look up and take in this mighty building-it’s Market Tower, one of Indianapolis’s champions of height and grit! When it was finished back in 1988, people were buzzing because this was the biggest privately-funded office tower the city had ever seen. Imagine: construction dust in the air and the steady clank of steel as it rose higher and higher, topping out with a flourish. At that time, more than half its offices were already spoken for-a big deal indeed in the era of power suits and even bigger cell phones.
But Market Tower isn’t just tall, it’s stylish too. Notice how its grid pattern and tinted windows are held tight by sharp metal lines. The copper roof with its eight spires really stands out, and there’s a clever trick on the east side where the building leans out a bit over the alleyway. Its design even tips its hat to neighbors around Monument Circle-historic, but definitely not stuck in the past.
Now, brace yourself for a story with wings-literally! High above, on the 31st floor’s southeast corner, there’s a special box: home to some rather feathery celebrities. Peregrine falcons started nesting here in the mid-90s to help boost their numbers in Indiana. If you listen closely on a spring morning, you might catch their piercing calls as they swoop down the tower. It’s a live-action nature show right on the skyline, and these fast flyers have kept coming back year after year.
But things haven’t always been so smooth. Picture this: In the 2010s, the tower’s owners had to sell after some tough money troubles-a real real-estate cliffhanger. It was snapped up, renovated, and finally breathed easy with a fresh paint job, a bustling café, and high-powered tenants like law firms and even the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
So yes, Market Tower stands as proof that even in the world of concrete and glass, a building can reinvent itself and keep reaching for the sky. And if you ever need three levels of underground parking, know you’re standing above what might be the city’s best-kept parking secret!
