Purdue University announced Aug. 10 it will purchase the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library building on Indiana Avenue.
Evan Hawkins, executive director for administrative operations for Purdue in Indianapolis, said the acquisition will create more opportunities for Purdue students to explore all Indianapolis has to offer.
āWe see this collaboration as a strengthening of Purdue student presence,ā Hawkins said. āAs we talk about Purdue University, particularly in Indianapolis, about continuing to blur the lines and connect our students to the community, connect our students to industry partners, it just seems like a natural opportunity here.ā
Purdue spokesperson Derek Schultz said Purdue is purchasing the building and that the nonprofit museum and library will continue to operate independently as a tenant there. Schultz also said Purdue has no immediate plans to use the Vonnegut museum space for the university’s campus.
Purdue plans to purchase the building for $1.9 million, though the sale has not yet closed, Schultz said.
Get the backstory
The museum, located at 543 Indiana Ave., is just the latest of many properties that Purdue has acquired on and around Indiana Avenue as the university builds up its Indianapolis campus. Those include the site of the former Second Baptist Church, a former office building thatās now Purdueās student center and Canal Square Apartments.
Hawkins said the university continues to keep Indiana Avenueās history top of mind, especially because the neighborhood surrounding the Avenue was razed to build IUPUI in the 1960s and ā70s.
āWe continue to remain committed to be a thoughtful and long-term partner in this community,ā Hawkins told Mirror Indy. āWe’re excited about the strengthening of this collaboration, and we fully intend and expect this partnership to continue to amplify the significance of the 500 block of Indiana Avenue, but also to create more opportunity and greater opportunity for communities to connect to the Vonnegut.ā
The Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library opened in 2011 and has been in its current location since 2019.
Founder and CEO Julia Whitehead said Purdue buying the building will allow the nonprofit to focus more on its mission of promoting free speech and educating people about Vonnegutās legacy, and less on building maintenance and repairs, which has been a pressure point for the organization in recent years.
āWe think we’re ready to start all of these exciting programs, which we did,ā Whitehead said. āBut we couldn’t do some of the things to the fullest level of what we had planned because we would have to drop things to be able to cope with the building maintenance.ā
In addition to financial security for the museum, Whitehead is also hoping the new partnership will open up more opportunities for Purdue students to learn and spend time in the museum and library.
āMaybe (Purdue has) certain restrictions based on state or federal guidelines. We don’t have those same restrictions, right?ā Whitehead said. āIn a way, it’s a wonderful opportunity for students to engage with maybe some different content.ā
In addition to buying up property, Purdue is also building up some of its new campus from scratch.
On Friday, Purdueās board of trustees approved plans for a second brand-new building on the universityās Indy campus ā a 302,000-square foot building that will include student housing for 500 students and academic space for engineering and health programs. The building, which Purdue is calling the Health, Science & Engineering Hub, will also include ground-floor retail and green space in the Indiana Avenue area.
Schultz said the university is in the early stages of planning for the new building and isnāt sharing additional details yet. But the universityās plan notes the building will cost an estimated $275 million in construction, with $100 million of that expected from the state.
Mirror Indy, a nonprofit newsroom, is funded through grants and donations from individuals, foundations and organizations. Sign up for our free newsletters.
Claire Rafford covers higher education for Mirror Indy in partnership with Open Campus. Contact Claire by email claire.rafford@mirrorindy.org, at 317-759-0249 or on most social media @clairerafford.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
