Editor's note: This story has been clarified to reflect that Chris Hiatt owns only one piece of property in the Village, the Hiatt Printing shop, which is located at the northwest end of the Village.
A new building set for McKinley Avenue is estimated to cost $25 million, but the money won't come from tuition, the university said Wednesday.
The new facility, McKinley Commons, will be located on the northeast corner of University and McKinley Avenues and will include a four-story residence hall, hotel, conference center and two restaurants.
"The facility will be an attractive destination and gathering space for visitors to campus, the hospital and the larger community," President Jo Ann Gora said in a letter to students and faculty released this morning.
Gora also lauded the potential for student involvement.
"Working directly with industry professionals, students will benefit from exposure to and involvement in the management of a full-service hospitality operation. They will gain experience in personnel management, cost control, pricing, marketing, customer service and event planning and management," Gora said.
The building is expected to go up where Hiatt Printing is now at 506 N. McKinley Ave.
The university has made a formal offer to owner Chris Hiatt in terms of acquiring the property, but Hiatt has yet to respond to the $400,000 offer, said Tony Proudfoot, associate vice president for Marketing and Communications.
"The figure is based on an appraisal that we obtained and presented to Mr. Hiatt as well as analysis of the real estate market in the area," Proudfoot said. "It represents what we believe to be the fair market value of the property as well as a small amount of effort toward settlement and compromise."
Proudfoot also said the university believes its in the final stages of negotiations with Hiatt.
The facility is considered an auxiliary operation and will not require capital funding from the state or student tuition, Gora said.
Other auxiliary campus operations include John R. Emens Auditorium and residence halls which operate off their own revenue.
The building is expected to house 50 dorm rooms for students, 100 hotel rooms, a series of conference rooms, a student-run retail area and two restaurants with qualities similar to those located in the L.A. Pittenger Student Center and the Atrium.
Gora said part of the plan is to help the Village.
"Our vision is that this development will benefit not only our students but also our community. ... We hope it will help attract additional private investment in the area," Gora said. "This is a way we can do our part to make the Village a destination to live, work and play."
The new building will also replace the existing hotel in the Student Center. At this time, university officials have not yet determined what is to be done with the soon-to-be empty space.
In January 2010, the university completed renovations to the Student Center after 19 months of construction. The project was estimated at $23.5 million but came in under-budget at $17.5 million.
Proudfoot said although it was recently renovated, the improvements to the current hotel were minimal, and the amount of area it covers is small.
Ball State students had both positive and negative things to say about the announcement.
"I guess since they already have one in the Student Center, I don't really see the point of getting rid of it after they spent all that money on it," freshman Abigail Marsh said.
Whitney Lingle, a first year graduate student studying anthropology, is the graduate assistant for the Allegre Restaurant in the Applied Technology Building. The quantity food production class serves lunch every Wednesday and dinner every Thursday at the restaurant.
Lingle said McKinley Commons will provide an updated experience as well as a bigger facility for the students.
She added that she thought the new building was worth the high price because it will provide a "rich learning experience" for the students.
"I understand just because the school is growing really quickly and it's an opportunity to broaden the students' learning experience, whereas the other hotel was just kind of a utilitarian facet of campus," Lingle said.
John Fallon, vice president for economic development and community engagement, said the announcement of the construction for the complex is what he calls a "win-win" situation.
"It's important to the city because it could be the anchor development in the revitalization of the Village," Fallon said. "Every major development project has something that has the potential to be the tipping point and that could be the tipping point for development in the Village."
Chris Jones and Rachel Stenger contributed to this story.
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