City official lobbying Purdue to take portion of Monument Circle
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The city of Indianapolis has been pitching leaders of Purdue University on putting at least a portion of the school’s downtown extension on Monument Circle.
Dan Parker, chief of staff and chief deputy mayor for the city, said Tuesday he believes either the former Anthem Inc. headquarters on the northwest portion of the Circle or the Emmis Corp. headquarters in the southwest quadrant would be a good fit for some of the university’s programs as it looks to expand its offerings in Indianapolis following the IUPUI split in July.
The sprawling Anthem space has been vacant for years, and Emmis is seeking a buyer for its building.
Speaking during IBJ’s Commercial Real Estate & Construction Power Breakfast on Tuesday morning, Parker said, “I would really like to see Purdue University come to the Circle. So there’s my sales pitch to the Purdue folks for the day.”
Afterward, he confirmed to IBJ that he has pitched Purdue officials on locating some of the schools downtown operations on the Circle but hasn’t received a commitment.
A spokesperson for Purdue University declined to comment for this story.
After years of planning, the IUPUI campus on downtown’s west side formally split into separate operations for Indiana University and Purdue University this summer. Purdue’s operations are considered an extension of its West Lafayette campus, while IU has established a separate campus called Indiana University Indianapolis with its own chancellor.
Purdue has been busy establishing relationships with businesses with a local presence. The university has agreed to locate some Purdue Innovates programs inside the High Alpha headquarters at the Bottleworks District, and the school’s motorsports program will be located in the Dallara building in downtown Speedway.
It also plans to be a partner in the One Health Innovation District at the former General Motors stamping plant site on western bank of the White River downtown.
Parker elaborated on his hopes of enticing Purdue to the heart of downtown, which would add to the growing stable of downtown properties in which the university would house programs.
“I think that the investment that Purdue’s already making into the community is tremendous,” Parker said. “It’s our pitch that we think having them on the Circle would give it that [renewed] vitality, by having students coming in and out of buildings and other other things on the Circle to feed off of that.”
Parker said while he understands Purdue has a plan “and they’ve got to follow that plan,” he is hopeful that over the next few years the city can secure a commitment from Purdue for either the Emmis or Anthem building.
“I think either one of those buildings would be great, just having their presence on the Circle would be tremendous in terms of the activity that the students could bring,” he said, adding that the post-split growth of Purdue and IU in Indianapolis could be a major boon for downtown.
“The potential to have two, R1-designated research institutions would be huge,” he said. “That focus in attracting students [who] want to be in an urban setting, I think allows for both IU and Purdue to be able” to create more opportunities for their respective campuses.
Each of the two buildings on the Circle are privately owned but have been difficult to find solutions for—in particular the nearly 214,000-square-foot Anthem building, which has been vacant since 2017. The building is owned by Boston-based Franklin Street Properties, which bought it in 2010 for $42 million.
The 26-year-old Emmis building was put on the market by the company for $35 million last year after Emmis sold most of its radio station holdings to Urban One.
Jeff Smulyan, Emmis founder and chairman, told IBJ on Tuesday that while he has been told by Purdue representatives that they have interest in the Circle, it wouldn’t be a near-term move for the school.
He said the Emmis building might not be the best fit, as it remains fully leased through next year until the Urban One stations’ lease concludes. Several other tenants also occupy parts of the building.
“I think it would be great for Indianapolis and it would be great for Purdue,” Smulyan said. “Whether it’s our building or elsewhere that they want to establish a presence… [the Circle] would be a great place.”
Parker declined to share what role the city could play in orchestrating or incentivizing a deal with the public university that would make it more amenable to using Circle-adjacent real estate, noting that the city would look to be “innovative.”
“You’ve got to think outside the box,” he said.