IU Indianapolis, Purdue split likely means big changes in downtown. Why some are worried.

When you look west on Michigan Street at the edge of IUPUI’s campus, you'll see plenty of parking garages and surface parking lots punctuating the university buildings.

But this corridor and the surrounding urban campus could look different in the next five years, as these parking spaces transform into classroom buildings. The uncoupling of downtown's Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis into two separate institutions brings with it millions of dollars for new construction from the state.

Both universities are eyeing the Michigan and West streets strips for development. The separation into IU Indianapolis and Purdue University in Indianapolis, campus officials argue, could allow for development to happen faster.

The two schools' divorce, first announced last August, was formalized June 14 amid a sea of Indiana University and Purdue baseball caps. A new era for the two universities, which will officially open separately in 2024, includes plans for significant development on the west side, where IUPUI is located — including several new classroom buildings, an indoor sports arena and student center space.

The logistics of the split are fairly uncomplicated on paper: Indiana University will take the bulk of the programs and buildings, minus engineering and computer science, which will go to Purdue. All sports teams will operate under IU Indianapolis, giving IU not just a bigger physical footprint, but a larger social one, too.

‘A place of joy:’ Black community hopes Indiana Avenue project embraces thriving past

There’s no shortage of money going to these projects — the state budget allocates $60 million each for both Indiana University and Purdue University to construct new buildings in the state budget. Plus, the Lilly Endowment has recently dedicated $300 million to local colleges and universities for initiatives that spur collaborations between the academy and the surrounding communities.

IUPUI in its current form opened in 1969 during the term of then-Mayor Richard Lugar, who envisioned the campus as a "great state university in Indianapolis." Purdue and IU had operated in Indianapolis separately for decades, but officials hoped by combining the programs, students would be able to take advantage of both campuses and the universities' combined prestige would help the regional campuses blossom into an urban research center.

At the same time as the separation has opened the door for the universities to reimagine development in the area, the city is embarking on its own separate strategic plan to revitalize Indiana Avenue, adjacent to the two campuses, once a vibrant Black neighborhood.

The expansion of IUPUI in the 1960s and 1970s, however, displaced many of the residents and businesses that once existed in the space.

This is not the first time that two Indiana state schools have split. In 2015, the state legislature recommended the severance of Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne into two separate institutions. That split faced criticism from faculty at the time. Since then Purdue Fort Wayne has seen development and both IU and Purdue saw some enrollment growth, but the split caused several degree programs to be discontinued and lots of growing pains.

Proponents of the IUPUI split say the plans have the potential to improve educational attainment in Indiana and attract more college graduates to stay in Indiana post-graduation. But critics worry about execution of ambitious goals, and say the two universities need to communicate with community members about the project.

"Certainly the ability to control their destiny, and therefore decide where investment goes without having to negotiate with the other parent eases that investment," said Andrew Downs, associate professor emeritus of political science at Purdue University Fort Wayne, who opposed the separation of Purdue and IU on his campus.

Purdue expanding presence in Indy and beyond

Campus officials have started planning for what the future could bring.

In a few years, Dan Hasler, director of operations for the new Purdue campus in Indianapolis, envisions the main drag of Purdue and IU’s Indianapolis campuses looking west on Michigan as being “like Main Street at Disney.”

“On the right side of that street, you have all things black and gold — the world's finest producer of engineering talent, of STEM talent, of computer scientists in the country,” he said. “And you look to the left and you have IU and all its strengths from sciences to medicine. I think it could truly be a magnet for the city.”

Purdue is planning to develop 28 acres, currently a mix of mostly parking garages and surface lots, west of West Street, south of Indiana Avenue and north of Michigan Street. Purdue is leasing the land from Indiana University to build a campus center, with amenities, classroom and dorm space, as well as leasing the computer science and engineering buildings.

Hasler said the university is hoping to start work as soon as possible, with construction beginning as soon as the end of this year. Purdue also announced a presence in the Bottleworks District downtown, where the school will partner with venture studio High Alpha to house programs in the Daniels School of Business.

Purdue’s vision of a so-called “hard tech” corridor that extends from Indianapolis to Purdue includes Lebanon’s Limitless Exploration/Advanced Pace (LEAP) District, which consists of at least 9,000 acres the Indiana Economic Development Corporation is hoping to populate with biotech, life sciences and microelectronics companies.

With time, Purdue is hoping to increase enrollment from its 2,500 Indianapolis students. Hasler hopes the school's development plan will allow them to target and attract certain types of students, those who are geared toward engineering

IU looks to expand in STEM

While Purdue is expanding to create a tech corridor to the north, IU is aiming to grow its STEM and medicine presence in the city and connect locally to resources on the west side, like the 16 Tech campus.

Short term, Indiana University is planning a 50,000-square-foot expansion of its science complex at the intersection of New York and Blackford streets. IU is also planning an expansion of its science and technology corridor along West and Michigan Streets, which includes several labs and research buildings, as well as student housing.

“There's a lot more room to grow in that corridor,” Michael Huber, IU's vice president for university relations, told IndyStar.

Long term, IU is looking to the same spot that Purdue is for expansion: Michigan Street.

IU has publicly announced its intention to double enrollment in the Luddy School of Informatics, as well as to invest heavily in both its nursing and medical schools. Though plans are preliminary, Huber said development along Michigan Street will likely target these three disciplines, aligning with IU's focus on bolstering STEM.

“This restructuring of IUPUI does represent a jumping off point because it provides new investment in allowing you to grow — and in some cases very fast,” he said.

But investment for IU goes beyond academics. The Indiana State Budget Agency set aside $89 million for a fieldhouse arena on the southeast portion of IU Indianapolis' campus. Huber hopes this arena project engages students and non-students, who will be able to come to the center for events.

"You have the potential for facilities like that, for the presence of the students and the new buildings to create more dynamic public spaces on that side of the downtown," he said.

Community engagement and planning

Both universities have pledged allegiance and cooperation with city's plans already underway to redevelop Indiana Avenue to honor the neighborhood's history. But the schools will have to show the community this is not a reprise of the earlier decades when the academy's needs took precedent over those of residents.

Huber sees redeveloping Indiana Avenue as potentially advantageous for housing and providing amenities for the increased student population that the two schools are hoping to attract.

"That becomes really important because there are a lot of exciting mixed use ideas that will serve IU students, but they don't necessarily have to be on campus," he said.

The areas the universities are targeting are ensconced in the Indiana Avenue strategic plan, and in some cases, directly abut historic parts of the Avenue like the Madam Walker Legacy Center.

But the universities will have to do better this time around than they did in the past, said Claudia Polley, president at the Urban Legacy Lands Initiative, which is leading the Indiana Avenue redevelopment. Polley's hopeful that IU and Purdue, in addition to community stakeholders like IU Health and the city of Indianapolis, will join together.

"This has got to be a unified effort," she said. "If it is not, then everybody's doomed. Because it's piecemeal, and what we've found in Indianapolis is piecemeal doesn't work."

And, as the two universities take a closer look at the bottom line, they may adapt or scale back plans, some warn.Detangling the schools could cost at least $37 million for startup and operating line costs, not including the new building funding, Huber said. In the long run the lofty plans and high hopes of today could wind up fizzling out, said Downs, who watched a similar scenario unfold in Fort Wayne, where he thinks separation was a messy and unnecessary process to achieve subsequent investment.

"What people should watch for is how much of the investment actually follows through," Downs said.

Contact this reporter at 317-617-3402.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IU Indianapolis, Purdue look to increase footprint in downtown Indy