Construction for a $25.9 million immersive living/learning laboratory was supposed to start in 2015, but its spot on the edge of campus remains empty.
McKinley Commons, a four-story residence hall, hotel, conference center and restaurant space located at the intersection of University Avenue and McKinley Avenue, was proposed in 2012 to benefit students in the hospitality program.
University spokesperson Joan Todd said the project "remains on hold," but did not say why.
Bernie Hannon, vice president for business affairs, said he is “committed to reviewing the financial viability of the facility under the current market conditions. That review is ongoing, and we will not commit to funding the project until our deliberations are complete [and] we are comfortable with the analysis.”
Hiatt Printing used to be located where McKinley Commons is to be built.
Ball State bought the property for $450,000 in May 2014 after exercising eminent domain. Ball State originally started negotiating with Chris Hiatt, owner of Hiatt Printing, for the property in 2012 and tried using eminent domain in court to seize the property (shown right) in September 2012, but the case was dropped in June 2013 after a dispute over the court’s appraisal value of the property.
Hiatt Printing was there for 30 years and had a core product line with Ball State, but Hiatt said now the only tie that remains is Hiatt’s line of supplementary course materials that faculty come to him for.
Hiatt said he is “very blessed, humbled and grateful” that he is still able to provide a service for the faculty, but is disappointed the area hasn’t started to develop yet since he gave up his “prime” location on campus.
“It wasn’t an easy thing to do, obviously,” Hiatt said. “I fought tooth and nail for years against Ball State and, for the reason of restoration, ultimately agreed on to give them the property.”
Hiatt speculated that a potential reason the project has been placed on hold is because the idea came when a different administration was in place.
He said the fact that construction hasn’t started yet is “certainly a 180-degree turn around” from when Ball State acquired the property. He has never been updated on the status of the project or property besides what the university publicly disclosed.
“Back in the day when they were trying to acquire the property, they couldn’t get ahold of it fast enough to start that process," Hiatt said. "Every inclination and testimonial relative to the project was that they were on a fast track. ... I’d like to see it developed, obviously, because that’s the only reason I gave it up. As it sits right now, I still could have sustained a presence there. I don’t lose a lot of sleep over it; those days are behind me now.”
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