The Indiana State University Foundation has a new place to call home.
Staffs of the foundation and its partner organizations - the ISU Alumni Association, Terre Haute REX Baseball and Leadership Wabash Valley - are moving into a new two-story building at Fifth and Cherry streets.
"We're thrilled that the foundation has a new, permanent home and we are even more excited that our new home represents a great partnership between the foundation, the university, private business and the Terre Haute community," said Gene Crume, foundation president.
The foundation has 27 offices and two conference rooms, as well as other contemporary work spaces for staff and student employees. The foundation will have a total space of 12,500 square feet, inside a new two-story, 32,000-square-foot building that will also house a new Barnes and Noble university bookstore.
Thompson Thrift, the full-serve Terre Haute real estate and construction company co-owned by ISU alumni John Thompson and Paul Thrift, served as the general contractor on the project.
"Our thanks to John and Paul and their staffs - as well as the subcontractors on the project and their hardworking employees - for getting this beautiful new addition to ISU and downtown Terre Haute completed in just 10 months," Crume said. "Much of the work on this development involved alumni as well as parents of current or former students. They all took great pride in participating in this project."
The new foundation location will feature donor recognition displays and ISU memorabilia. The building also has meeting rooms on the first floor to be used by university and community patrons.
A plaza adjacent to the building will feature a sculpture that incorporates ISU symbols such as the book and torch seal and the Sycamore leaf. A national call to artists resulted in dozens of applications. A committee set up by Art Spaces, Inc. will chose a sculptor for the project.
In conjunction with the move, foundation offices will have new phone numbers beginning Monday (Feb. 14). The main number will be 812-514-8400.
Barnes and Noble will move this spring from its current college bookstore location in ISU's Hulman Memorial Student Union to the new building. The bookstore will have significantly more space in the new location and i ts offerings will no longer be limited to those of a "college" bookstore, though it will feature a greater selection of ISU merchandise.
The new Barnes & Noble represents the first major new retail investment in downtown Terre Haute in more than 30 years and also be home to downtown's first Starbucks. Formal dedication of the new building is scheduled for April 15.
The foundation developed the project in cooperation with Danville, Ill.-based Vermilion Development.
Contact: Kim Bloch, communications director, Indiana State University Foundation, kbloch@indstatefoundation.org
Writer: Dave Taylor, media relations director, Office of Communications and Marketing, Indiana State University, 812-237-3743 or dave.taylor@indstate.edu