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Purdue University’s new multi-use building planned for the northwest corner of Michigan and West streets in Indianapolis is expected to rise 15 stories and open in 2027.
Conceptual renderings, first shared with IBJ on Wednesday, outline the school’s proposed Academic Success Building, a 248,000-square-foot structure offering classroom and laboratory space, first-floor retail, community areas, student dining options with up to 400 seats and residential space for up to 500 students.
The $187 million project, which received formal approval from the Purdue board of trustees in June, will be the first structure built by the university in Indianapolis since it split from Indiana University last summer.
“The new Academic Success Building is Purdue’s first purpose-built facility at our Indianapolis expansion to serve our students, employees, and the surrounding community,” Jay Wasson, Vice President of Physical Facilities and Chief Public Safety Officer at Purdue, said in a written statement. “This investment reflects our commitment to providing a world-class residential and experiential learning experience supporting STEM-related needs critical to growing the Indiana economy.”
IUPUI—otherwise known as Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis—broke into Indiana University Indianapolis, a standalone campus in the IU system, and Purdue University in Indianapolis, which is considered an extension of Purdue’s main campus in West Lafayette.
Early plans for the Academic Success Building call for a structure with a red-brick, four-story base and a stepped-back 11-story tower occupying the northern two-thirds of the building’s footprint. The tower would feature dark gray exterior building materials and light-colored glass, with Purdue University branding adorning the enclosed rooftop mechanical room.
The structure would be built directly across California Street from the Gateway Parking Garage and will have a main entrance on its southern facade, along Michigan Street.
While the exact footprint has not been finalized, the construction site has long been used as the Lot 73 surface parking area. The lot is part of about 28 acres gifted to Purdue in the northeast quadrant of the former IUPUI campus to allow the school to create its own physical presence in downtown Indianapolis.
Purdue is still shoring up which academic programs will be housed in the building, but planners expect the structure to offer a variety of makers spaces, allowing students to build and work on projects. Purdue last fall began offering a degree focused on integrated business and engineering and another focused on actuarial sciences.
Purdue will continue to use five existing buildings on the IU Indianapolis campus, largely to house programs that predate the split.
Funding for the Academic Success Building project will come from a mix of housing and dining fees ($105 million), funds from the Indiana General Assembly ($60 million) and donations ($22 million).
The first look at the plans comes just a day after IBJ first reported that Purdue had acquired the former American College of Sports Medicine property at 401 W. Michigan St. for $6.5 million. That purchase is one of several real estate moves the university has made downtown stemming from the dissolution of IUPUI.
(IBJ previewed IU’s plans for its Indianapolis campus in a story you can see here. It also covered Purdue’s plans for its Indianapolis extension in a story you can find here.)
Purdue secured a partnership with Dallara in May to house its motorsports engineering program at the company’s U.S. headquarters in downtown Speedway, along with a deal with Elanco for a new building at the former General Motors Stamping Plant site on the west bank of the White River. The school also has an agreement with High Alpha for the executive education program within the Mitchell E. Daniels Jr. School of Business.
And IBJ reported in August that representatives for the city of Indianapolis have asked Purdue to consider establishing a presence on Monument Circle, specifically encouraging the school to bring programs to either the former Anthem Inc. headquarters on the northwest portion of the Circle or the Emmis Corp. headquarters in the southwest quadrant, both of which are now for sale.
Construction on the Academic Success Building is set to begin this April and be completed by May 2027.
The architect on the project is Browning Day with support from Perkins & Will. Shiel Sexton has been selected as construction manager.
Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to remove a reference to the involvement of the regional center hearing examiner. State entities like Purdue University are generally not subject to local zoning approvals.
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Sounds and looks great.