New student and non-student housing coming to West Lafayette

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. − A proposed six-story housing complex could bring 100 beds to West Lafayette.

Ryan Munden, an attorney for Reiling Teder & Schrier, presented both potential new housing options to the board Monday night.

"There are two existing structures that will be torn down and replaced with the new six-story single structure," Munden said about the first project. "That (demolition) is at the corner of South Salisbury and Wood Street. It has the same developer that is developing 'Verve 1,' currently under construction on the north side of Wood Street. So this will be 'Verve 2,' immediately across the street."

The potential housing options and the adaptive reuse of a four-story building into housing was on Monday night's West Lafayette City Council agenda.

Munden stated that this new six-story building to be constructed will bring up to 100 beds to West Lafayette. The rooms in this new building will be open to both student and non-students.

The construction work on this project is set to start this fall and aims to be completed for the 2025 school year.

The "adaptive reuse" of the building at 314 Russel Street plans to tear down part of the building, but not all of it, according to Munden.

"The architect-term for it is 'adaptive reuse," Munden said. "So it's a historic building. (Margerum City Hall) is adaptive reuse. So it's the same concept. It is (currently) boarded up. And it's been vandalized to the point where it's cost prohibitive to do anything with it as it currently stands. So either it would be torn down...or remodeled like we (are doing).

"The...addition that is on the south side of the building will be torn down...but the original, historic portion of it will just be an internal remodel."

Munden said that the renovation of this currently unutilized building will bring up to 485 beds for student housing, replacing 123 beds, with a net increase of 362 beds.

The timeline on the reuse project will not be quite as long as the new building construction, according to Munden. Internal work began as of Tuesday, while the bigger, exterior construction is set to begin in July and finish in time for the fall 2024 semester.

Multiple members of the public, all of which were Purdue students, some currently living in the Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity House at 501 North Russel Street, aired some of the grievances they have with the adaptive reuse of the building at 314 Russel Street.

Each of the students brought up concerns over a lack of parking, a lack of affordable housing and the overall development of campus and how it "feels commercialized" with a "city-like feel" as opposed to a neighborhood.

Legislation approved to inform tenants of demolition

Ted Hardesty, a senior at Purdue and the District 3 representative on the West Lafayette City Council, at least until Monday night, was able to get approval on the legislation he sponsored requiring notification of demolition to tenants of a building directly.

According to Hardesty, based on an experience that occurred in late 2022 where local tenants were surprised to hear about the demolition of their building coming up, he felt the need to sponsor and pass this legislation.

"In (the fall of 2022), there was a planned development on Third and Waldron tear down the existing department building and create a new building," Hardesty said. "(In the pre-council document for this demolition), I couldn't see any date for demolition. I (asked) when are you trying to demoing? It was in a few months. And I (asked) are there tenants currently in that building, they didn't have an answer.

"(They) also didn't have an answer a few days after I called them back (to ask again)...So I went over to the building (to be demolished) and some of the tenants I talked to...had no idea (it was to be demolished)."

Hardesty explained that he figured there must have been a law broken here to allow for tenants to be mostly unaware of an upcoming demolition. But, there wasn't. Hardesty stated that previous legislation only required a sign to be installed somewhere in the property, informing of the upcoming demolition.

According to Hardesty, this sign was planted in an obstructed viewing area.

According to the ordinance Hardesty sponsored and helped get approved, notification of a demolition must be mailed and emailed, if applicable, to all affected tenants 21 days prior to the rezoning hearing — the meeting to discuss the possibility of demolition.

"The notification must include a statement outlining the details of the tenant’s contract as it applies to potential relocation of the tenant following demolition," the ordinance states. "Property owners are not required to notify tenants of potential subsequent common council meetings where the ordinance."

Monday also marked Hardesty's last meeting on the board, as he is soon graduating and moving on in his career.

"I'm very proud of the things I've done," Hardesty said. "...I wish I didn't have to advocate for people...but it's an honor to be able to advocate for people...I really want to work in sexual violence prevention...I've got some plans in the works, (but) I don't want to make them public yet."

Hardesty is graduating with a degree in brain and behavior sciences and political science.

Council rejects ordinance on tobacco product use near entrances

In the April 2022 meeting, an ordinance sponsored by Council Member David Sanders restricted the use of smoking within 15 feet of a public entrance or place of employment. State law now prohibits smoking within eight feet of a public entrance to a public place or a place of employment.

While this ordinance ― pushing back the restricted area seven more feet beyond an entrance ― passed its first reading, it failed to pass the second reading this week. Therefore, the ordinance will not go into effect.

Last month, council members Nick DeBoer and James Blanco abstained from the vote and members Kathy Parker and Gerald Thomas voted against it.

This month, only Sanders, Jeff Brown and Peter Bunder voted in favor of the ordinance, 5-to-3 against passage.

"I haven't been bothered by smoke (from tobacco) in a doorway in at least a decade," Parker said in April. "So I just didn't see why we're coming up with an ordinance. It felt to me like coming up with a law in search of a problem."

When asked about his thoughts on the failure-to-approve on this ordinance, Sanders said, "I'm sorry that they rejected what the mayor was in favor of."

Margaret Christopherson is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. Email her at mchristopherson@jconline.com and follow her on Twitter @MargaretJC2.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Housing for students and non-students approved in West Lafayette