CIB awards Art Spaces $450,000 for Turn to River project

Dec. 29—Wabash Valley Art Spaces was awarded $450,000 Wednesday from the Vigo County Capital Improvement Board toward Phase II and Phase III of the Turn to the River project.

The funding will enable Art Spaces to meet its required 3-to-1 match to obtain a $150,000 READI — Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative — state grant.

"We are hoping that the design development and planning will begin in the earlier half of 2023. I am really excited for the next phase and excited that we have the support of the Capital Improvement Board," Allyson Midgley, Art Spaces executive director, said after the meeting.

Phase II is an event space to support food trucks, festivals, farmers markets and other events.

Phase III is a reflection area on the south side of Terre Haute City Hall with updated pathways, landscaping and seating.

Design development will cost about $112,000, Mary Kramer, former Art Spaces executive director and now consultant, told members of the CIB last month.

Art Spaces had sought $1.5 million from the CIB for the project, which has been estimated to cost more than $1.88 million.

"I think it is a perfect fit for what we are doing and is a reminder that part of the creation of the CIB, one piece of that, was to support and fund arts projects in our community ... and this will be the first time" that funding for an art project has been approved, said Mayor Duke Bennett, a member of the CIB.

The CIB's New Projects Committee, Bennett said, recommended the full request not be funded at this time "but just the [READI grant] match. But doesn't mean there is not an opportunity for future funding," Bennett told the CIB.

Turn to the River Phase I, dedicated last May, included a revitalized plaza between City Hall and the Vigo County Courthouse with a central water artwork feature by artists Brad and Diana Goldberg.

The final phase is to include an overlook of the Wabash River.

Art Spaces has been involved in the Turn to the River project for more than 10 years.

Convention Center matters

In other business, the board gave approval to issue request for proposals to construct display cases and display items for the Larry Bird Museum, which is located at the Terre Haute Convention Center.

Board Attorney Brian Bosma said the proposals will be published in legal notices on Jan. 3 and Jan. 10.

Companies will have until Jan. 24 to ask questions about the work, with a Feb. 2 deadline for submission of a proposal. The CIB's museum committee will then interview companies and make a recommendation to the full board in February, Bosma said.

Work on the museum is being split into two RFPs, one for display cases and a second for audio-visual displays. The CIB is still working to complete agreements with the NBA and other entities regarding the audio-visual displays, Bosma told the board.

Terri Conley, chair of the CIB's museum committee, said electrical work in the museum is expected to be completed by the end of January.

The board also approved a property and easement exchange agreement. Board President Jon Marvel and Tennille Wanner, OVG 360's general manager for the Convention Center, are to complete final details.

The agreement, which was to be signed as part of the center's construction, is for easements for utility and access for the convention center parking garage in exchange for 100 parking spaces in the garage.

Bosma said issues remaining include taxes on those spaces if they are used for private purposes and the location of the parking spaces.

The spaces would be assigned to the former Hulman & Co. building east of 9th Street, the Terminal Building, Copper Bar and for the State Office Building at Eighth and Cherry Streets. All four buildings are owned by Terre Haute businessman Greg Gibson.

Among proposed parking spaces are five spaces now used for 15 minute parking, plus 30 spaces on Level 1 the parking garage with more spaces on Level 2 and Level 3.

Wanner voiced concern over several of the first-floor spaces proposed, as the first floor is used for vendor deliveries, police vehicles and clients seeking to rent the facility.

Board member Chris Switzer, a Vigo County commissioner, expressed concern the parking spaces would be reserved 24 hours, seven days a week.

Switzer said most government officers are open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and such an agreement would reduce the parking garage's capacity by 100 spaces during evening events.

He recommended a limited time the spaces would be reserved for the four privately held buildings.

In other matters:

n The CIB collected more than $3.05 million in food and beverage taxes in 2022, an 11% increase — nearly $300,000 — over 2021. The tax money is used to pay construction bonds for the convention center, as well as money for maintenance and other projects.

n Wanner updated the board on vandalism to the parking garage elevator on Dec. 21.

A camera caught clear images of three juveniles who spray painted the camera and the interior of the garage elevator. Wanner said the video and still photographs have been turned over to the Terre Haute Police Department, which has already been in touch with one family of a juvenile involved in the vandalism.

A camera will need to be replaced as well and there will be a cost to clean the elevator. The Convention Center is pressing charges, Wanner said.

n The Convention Center has 38 definite contracts with 650 hotel rooms and gross revenue of $308,207 for 2023; plus 10 contracts awaiting signature for 26 hotel rooms and gross revenue of $73,048; and 44 tentative contracts for 175 hotel rooms and $287,564 in gross revenue so far in 2023, Wanner said.

Add in six events slated for 2024 and one in 2025, the Convention Center has more than $814,700 in business revenue through 2025.

Howard Greninger can be reached at 812-231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com. Follow on Twitter @TribStarHoward.