The owner of properties at the corner of 16th Street and Emerson Avenue on the east side has big plans.
A new bar and grill. A new gas station. A new convenience store.
Neighbors have mixed feelings. But they won’t have many chances to weigh in on what’s to come.
Some say a new bar and grill could be nice, in part because there would be an outdoor seating area. It would replace the current bar, Shi-Kay Lounge, which doesn’t have outdoor seating or food.
The convenience store and gas station aren’t as popular.
“Another place to get honey buns,” Alli Tegarden, 38, said sarcastically. Tegarden works at a flower shop next to Shi-Kay.
Talwinder Singh Kahlon bought most of the land on the southwest corner of the intersection in 2025. That includes Shi-Kay, a house and some abandoned buildings. He didn’t answer Mirror Indy’s questions about what his exact plans are and when he wants to start redevelopment.
But Kahlon’s lawyer, Joseph Csikos, told Mirror Indy plans are moving forward.
“He intends to rebuild that area,” Csikos said.
A rezoning petition filed with the city shows a new 5,300-square-foot bar and grill on East 16th Street next to Speedway Liquors, which Kahlon also owns. The convenience store would take the place of the Shi-Kay bar on Emerson Avenue, with gas pumps to the north of the building.
After learning it wasn’t necessary, Csikos said the rezoning request was pulled.
One nearby resident doesn’t mind the plans.
“I don’t think it matters,” said Patricia Crask, 84, who has lived in her brick house on Emerson Avenue since the early 1980s.
Crask said the area already has a lot of commercial development anyway. There’s a Safeway, Family Dollar and pawn shop at the corner.
But Bethany Baugh, a member of the Little Flower Neighborhood Association, said the group is working on how to respond.
“We don’t need another gas station,” Baugh said. “We don’t need another convenience store. What’s the point?”
Limited neighborhood input
None of the properties need to be rezoned, so the plans don’t need approval from the city’s development board.
Chris Staab, president of the Near East Side Community Organization, said if the land is already zoned for such developments, neighbors don’t have much leverage to push back.
“As much as I don’t like to see new gas stations going in,” Staab said, “I’ve had a hard time stopping them.”
Instead, Staab said he’s focused on getting commitments from owners.
In this case, Staab said he’s talked to Kahlon’s lawyer about putting naloxone boxes and Stop the Bleed kits on the properties. Naloxone reverses an opioid overdose, and Stop the Bleed kits include tourniquets and other medical equipment. The east side has a higher rate of fatal overdoses than the rest of the county.
Even though the land doesn’t have to be rezoned, the plans would require building over an alley that runs north and south behind Shi-Kay.
There is a petition to vacate the alley, which would give the owner permission to develop over what used to be a public right of way.
If you go
Little Flower meeting
The neighborhood association will talk about how to respond to proposed development at 16th Street and Emerson Avenue.
🗓️ 7-8 p.m. Sept. 15
📍 Little Flower Catholic Church, 4720 E. 13th St.
There will be at least one public hearing for that request. The hearing hasn’t been scheduled yet.
Little Flower meeting planned
Baugh, with the Little Flower Neighborhood Association, said neighbors she’s talked to don’t like the plans.
“It’s fair to say we’d all like a prettier corner there,” she said. “But we don’t want another gas station.”
The neighborhood association meets 7-8 p.m. Sept. 15 at Little Flower Catholic Church, 4720 E. 13th St.
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Mirror Indy reporter Tyler Fenwick covers housing and labor. Contact him at 317-766-1406 or tyler.fenwick@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @ty_fenwick and Bluesky @tyfenwick.bsky.social.
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