Butler to build new residence hall, parking garage

Butler University’s plans for a major campus upgrade will begin with the construction of a 600-bed residence hall and roughly 1,000-space parking facility.

The university announced Friday morning that construction of the five-story garage will begin in the fall, with completion expected in August 2015. Work on the dormitory should start in the spring and be finished in the fall of 2016.

Construction of the parking garage will begin this fall. (Image courtesy Butler University)

The residence hall will be built on the existing Irwin Library parking lot along Sunset Avenue, while the parking facility, which will include 15,000 square feet of ground-level commercial space, will be constructed on an existing lot between Clowes Memorial Hall and Lake Road.

Butler will spend $20 million to build the parking garage; final cost of the residence facility has yet to be determined, university spokesman Marc Allan told IBJ.

“Advancing our educational mission through the development of superior campus amenities is a key component of Butler’s 2020 Vision to be an innovative leader in transformative student-centered learning,” President James M. Danko said in a prepared statement.

The residence hall is part of a larger effort to add more on-campus housing. The university and Austin, Texas-based American Campus Communities, which Butler has partnered with to build new student housing, are assessing whether to renovate or replace Schwitzer and Ross halls, as well as the Residential College building.

Both Schwitzer and Ross, which opened in the 1950s, lack the technological amenities that today’s college student prefers. They house about 500 students each.

Butler has increased enrollment by about 600 students in the past 10 years, marking a 15-percent rise in the student body, to roughly 4,700.

IBJ reported in April about Butler’s plans to build a new residence hall, possibly construct a larger facility to house its business school, and renovate existing academic buildings.

Danko told IBJ then that the university began exploring new residence halls after estimates to renovate Ross and Schwitzer topped $20 million.

Other on-campus housing options are Apartment Village next to Hinkle Fieldhouse, finished in 2006, and University Terrace Apartments at 52nd Street and Westfield Boulevard.

Plans also could call for a new building for Butler’s College of Business, which now occupies the Holcomb Building. The move would free up space for the science department to expand into Holcomb from Gallahue Hall.

The parking garage will be built by Indianapolis-based Keystone Group. It was chosen in October 2012 to build a parking, retail and residential project between Clowes Hall and Hinkle Fieldhouse that would have cost as much as $45 million. But campus officials ultimately put the plans on hold and began studying other housing options.

CSO Architects Inc. is the architect for the garage.

Keystone Group developed with city financial assistance the $15 million garage and retail project at the southwest corner of College Avenue and Westfield Boulevard in Broad Ripple, with about 350 spaces and 25,000 square feet of retail space.