New performing arts center, hotel, restaurants planned at Ball State

On Apr 17, 2022

A rendering shows a new arts center Ball State University plans to build at the corner of McKinely and University avenues as part of a plan to revitalize The Village. The new development was announced March 25, 2022.

MUNCIE, Ind. — Ball State University officials have announced plans for a “major revitalization” of The Village commercial district.

The BSU Board of Trustees on Friday gave Ball State President Geoffrey Mearns the authority to sign a “memorandum of understanding” with Ohio-based Fairmount Properties, which has been involved with similar developments in university communities.

The first phase of the plan calls for construction of a performing arts center, near the northeast corner of University and McKinley avenues, along with a 100-room “best-in-class” hotel and a “”thematic” restaurant.

Officials on Friday said the performing arts center would serve as “the catalytic anchor for the commercial district.”

For years, Ball State has been looking to help revitalize the retail-and-residential Village at the edge of campus. In 2019, BSU officials announced a long-range plan for a potential “mixed-use” building on the vacant block the university owns at the northeast corner of McKinley and University avenues.

From 2019:Ball State University spearheading plan to revitalize The Village

In addition, the university sought proposals from private real estate developers for other potential development throughout The Village.

Friday’s announcement of the planned arts center — expected to host more than 160 “university performances” annually — also called for the new facility to “leverage approximately $100 million in private investment” to make The Village a “multigenerational district driven by arts and culture, entertainment, and innovation with new options in dining, retail, service, hospitality, living, and gathering.”

Mearns said the desire was to make The Village a destination point not only for Ball State faculty and students, and Delaware County residents, but “for all of East Central Indiana.”

Another goal is to create an environment that would “entice more Ball State students to remain in Muncie after graduation,” officials said.

Mearns noted the assessed value of real estate in The Village had declined in recent years.

He also said plans for revitalization of the district calls for cooperation, not competition, with existing businesses there.

The revitalization effort is viewed as a five-phase concept. Later phases would include seeking new retail and restaurant tenants “merchandized in coordination with existing Village merchants,” apartments geared to staff at the university and IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital, along with development of an east “gateway” into the district and a “central hub” and event plaza.

The final phase would seek development of single-family homes, more apartments and townhouses or condos.

Those plans involve property, in and near The Village, that has been purchased by Ball State in recent years.

The new performing arts center is slated to include two new performance venues for Ball State theater and dance students. Since 1996, the number of theater and dance majors has more than doubled at Ball State, with close to 450 current students pursuing bachelor’s degrees in nine different academic programs in the department, according to a release.

In addition to university performances, the arts center would also host performances by local schools and arts organizations, and could draw more than 35,000 attendees to The Village annually, the release stated.

A development agreement with Fairmount Properties is expected be completed by the end of this year, with construction tentatively scheduled to begin in 2024, according to the release.

Mayor Dan Ridenour was at Friday’s announcement. In a release, he said the revitalization would restore “a true cultural district to The Village area that will serve the Muncie community and the entire region.”

Mearns discussed the lengthy planning efforts that led to The Village proposal, and thanked Jud Fisher, president and chief executive officer of the Ball Brothers Foundation, and Jeff Bird, president of IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital, for their support.

Bird called the project “a game-changer for our community.”

This isn’t the first such plan for that corner of University and McKinley. In 2012, Ball State announced plans to build a four-story building including a $25 million, 100-room hotel, 50 dormitory rooms and two restaurants at the same spot.