University buys land at 10th St., 45/46 Bypass

One in every 198 home-owners was forced to forego their property titles in 2008.

Indiana then had the 11th highest home foreclosure rate, and the rate at which people lost their residency increased by 86 percent from 2007, according to a Realty Trac report.

Housing was cheap, and building materials, limestone and concrete were cheaper.

Labor opportunities rose with the economic downturn and provided a silver lining to a housing bubble that almost burst.

IU took advantage of cheap construction costs.

In 2011, the Board of Trustees approved building plans for a new residence hall, student apartment building and Cyberinfrastructure Building on campus, leaving total University investment in these projects at $91 million.

Now, the IU Foundation has purchased the land at 10th Street and the Indiana 45/46 Bypass for $4.6 million.

The University owns all four corners of the intersection, including Tulip Tree apartments on the northwest corner and the Cyberinfrastructure Building on the northeast corner.

Associate Vice President of Communications Mark Land said the area might eventually be expanded to support UITS and its employees.

“We’re not really sure yet in terms of specifically what you’ll see there,” Land said in an Indiana Public Media article published in May.

“We can tell you that it will somehow be consistent with the technology buildings that we have out there, and what will go there will be things that support those operations and the people that work there.”

For now, the University will extend the leases of area businesses, such as Scandinavian Imports, Oasis Chinese Restaurant and Karaoke and Sherwin Williams.

“Essentially it’s business as usual for the businesses in the property,” IU Director of Communications Ryan Piurek said.

“There is no timetable for what will come.”

Tom Morrison, IU vice president for capital projects ad facilities, then said the area could be developed to provide greater dining opportunities to the 600 employees that work at the Cyberinfrastructure Building, and that once construction is complete, it will be a more accessible intersection for Bloomington students and residents.

“There will be much greater pedestrian access and safety in that area when the project is done, including a pedestrian underpass at Seventh Street,” Morrison said in a Bloomington Herald-Times article published in May.

Although dining opportunities might bring greater revenue to the community, the loss of property taxes from University buildings may hurt local economy more than it helps it.

The City of Bloomington stands to lose more than $40,000 in uncollected funds, according to an estimate from a 2011 Geographic Information System report, and Monroe County schools and townships that benefit from that income might miss that revenue.

But in 2012 IU was rated the third “Most Wired” public university by Princeton Review and PC Magazine, and, with three acres free and more than 1 million square feet of developable space available for public-private business partnerships, the University is looking to extend this title.

“The IU Foundation bought the property to extend our information technology presence in that area,” Piurek said.

“By purchasing this area it gives us control of all the property the north side of the bypass, and it’s a step closer to University officials determining how we can best utilize this space.”