Von Lee houses businesses, IU offices

A landmark of Kirkwood Avenue is undergoing surgery to become home to at least one new restaurant and several IU offices come mid- to late-February. The construction on the site of the Von Lee Theater is well underway but will preserve some of the original movie theater. \nThe theater, near the corner of Indiana and Kirkwood avenues, was built in 1929 and has been left vacant the past five years. The construction will turn the theater into a three-story building with retail space on the bottom floor and IU offices on the top two.\nHistorically, the building was one of the only independent movie theaters in Bloomington until it closed more three years ago with a clause that the building couldn't be used to show movies. \nArchitect Doug Bruce of Tabor/Bruce/Puzzello Architecture is working on the new building.\n"We are working on some of the drywall," Bruce said. "The interior is being fitted, so it's hard to say percentage-wise, but we're in about the 70 to 80 percent completion range right now."\nPart of the agreement to rebuild on the site was that the new builders would preserve some of the old historic theater, including 12 feet of wall around the entrance of the building. The old sign that read "Von Lee" and used to mark the theater's entrance on Kirkwood was going to be preserved as well but instead will be donated to the Monroe County Historical Society.\n"The sign you see out there now is a replica," Bruce said. "We had to do that because the original sign was too old to be useful and was very heavy."\nThe IU Office of Creative Services will occupy the top two floors of the building. IU Creative Services is currently located in two separate buildings downtown.\n"The entire office will be together for the first time," said Marcia Busch-Jones, the director of IU Creative Services.\nBusch-Jones said that the new office will be a benefit to students.\n"We generate most material that is used to recruit prospective students to not only Bloomington, but other campuses as well," Busch-Jones said.\nOne restaurant looking to move in on the first floor is Noodles & Company, a pasta restaurant that serves dishes from all over the world. There are spaces for at least two more retail businesses, but none have shown any serious interest yet, Bruce said.\nThis will also be the first LEED-certified building in Bloomington and only the sixth LEED-certified building in Indiana. LEED certification means that the building is constructed with environmentally friendly methods, such as reusing of old materials and finding the rest of the materials within a fixed-distance radius.\n"This will be a great gateway to downtown Bloomington," Bruce said. "The Von Lee will have another legacy"