Purdue trustees approve land transfers to support student organizations, future campus development

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue University trustees on Friday (Oct. 6) approved several real estate deals.

In a land transfer with the Wesley Foundation at Purdue University, Purdue will acquire 0.44 acres of land at 435 Mitch Daniels Blvd. — adjacent to the Krannert Building and Krannert Center for Executive Education and Research. The Wesley Foundation has owned and operated its facility at that site since 1917. The foundation’s new location at 122 Waldron St. will enable one of the longest-tenured community service organizations to maintain a presence near campus while placing an additional cultural organization in the south Waldron neighborhood.

Trustees also approved the purchase of 0.61 acres of land at 402 Waldron St. in West Lafayette from Chi Omega sorority. Additionally, land located at 509, 519 and 523 Waldron St. and 1005 Sixth St. in West Lafayette will be ground leased at market rate for a period of 40 years to Chi Omega, which intends to build a new sorority house. The current property will be leased back to Chi Omega during construction.

This transaction maintains one of the longest-tenured sororities at a near-campus location, creates vibrancy and positive student life impacts in the north Waldron neighborhood, allows the university to own a property at an important strategic location and aligns with the 2018 Giant Leaps Master Plan, which identifies this location as a potential site for future campus development.

“Through our discussions and partnerships with the Wesley Foundation and the Chi Omega sorority, we were able to identify solutions that benefit both long-standing service organizations while also providing space for the growing Daniels School of Business,” said Michael B. Cline, senior vice president for administrative operations.

In other action, trustees approved the lease of 55 apartments from Fuse for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 academic years to provide additional student housing capacity to meet projected enrollment demands on the West Lafayette campus. The apartments include 173 beds for student housing and two beds for residential assistants.

Located at 720 Northwestern Ave., Fuse is a five-story, 355,000-square-foot retail and housing facility that includes 489 beds in 228 one-bedroom, two-bedroom, three-bedroom and four-bedroom apartments. The total lease commitment of $4,585,746 will be funded by Auxiliary Funds-Housing/Dining.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a public research institution with excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities and with two colleges in the top 4 in the United States, Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 105,000 students study at Purdue across modalities and locations, with 50,000 in person on the West Lafayette campus. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 12 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap, including its first comprehensive urban campus in Indianapolis, the new Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business, and Purdue Computes, at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives.

Source: Rob Wynkoop