ISU Negotiating With Government to Acquire Federal Building

Downtown proponents say potential move leaves many questions
By Lori Henson/Tribune-Star
Date: Dec. 13, 2002

The fortunes of the Federal Building at Seventh and Cherry streets took a new turn Thursday, as U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh announced he's heading negotiations among the federal government, the U.S. Postal Service and Indiana State University to make the building ISU's new School of Business.

The building's future has been in question since 1998, when the Postal Service announced plans to move to smaller, less pricey quarters that could save it as much as $2 million over 10 years. Then-U.S. Rep. Ed Pease led an effort to keep the Post Office in the building, which succeeded. The Postal Service owns the building.

But a month ago, talks began among Bayh's office, ISU, the Postal Service and the government's General Services Administration, which finds and manages the best deals for the government's workplaces and acquisitions, said GSA spokesman David Wilkinson, who is based in Chicago.

Details of a renovation and where the federal offices now in the building would relocate still are undecided, said Wilkinson and Bayh spokesman Mark Kornblau. The next step is signing a memorandum of understanding, which would allow renovation of the building to ISU specifications and then transfer ownership of the structure to ISU.

"It's not a done deal until the memorandum of understanding is signed, but there is significant momentum at this point," Kornblau said Thursday.

That momentum gives Todd Nation pause. As president of Downtown Terre Haute Inc. and owner of BookNation on Wabash Avenue, Nation has been an outspoken advocate for downtown preservation.

Nation said ISU's presence in downtown is welcome. But what happens afterward with the Postal Service, U.S. District Court and Bankruptcy Court is a cause for concern.

"The bottom line is, we shouldn't let any more of our historic buildings be torn down in our downtown neighborhood," he said. "If that basic requirement is understood by everybody, including ISU, then it's going to be good for the neighborhood."

The building's proximity to the vacant Terre Haute House hotel brings into question what role it may have in future plans for the Federal Building and the courts' future location.

Terre Haute House developer John Bischoff, who still is waiting to hear whether federal tax credits will be granted to his planned revitalization of the hotel, said he is not party to any of the negotiations and does not expect anything but a positive impact by ISU's use of the Federal Building.

Educational conferences and other such educational opportunities would be a good fit with a renovated Terre Haute House, he said.

Nation said protecting large downtown buildings, including the Federal Building, the Terre Haute House and the Tribune Building, is essential to the future of the neighborhood.

The Federal Building opened in September 1935 with the support of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who won that office with the help of Terre Haute voters. The three-story limestone structure was constructed through a public works project.

Its architecture is Art Deco in style, with marble on the interior and Indiana limestone on the exterior. The building's architect was Miller and Yeager architectural firm of Terre Haute.

The geometric designs and bold colors are a hallmark of Art Deco. The elevator areas are entirely Art Deco with eagles, stars and other elements of Art Deco. In the main lobby, original sconces are still on the walls, and the original writing tables for the postal patrons are still in use. But the most magnificent part of the building, said historian Mike McCormick, is the second-floor federal courtroom.

The centerpiece of that room is a 20-foot-by-20-foot mural, "The Signing of the Magna Carta," by artist Frederick Webb Ross of Shelbyville. Ross painted the mural in his New York City studio and shipped it in pieces to Terre Haute, where it was reassembled in the courtroom.

The building originally housed Federal Court, the Post Office and several federal offices, including the Social Security Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service. The FBI, Bankruptcy Court, U.S. Probation/Parole remain, along with the Post Office and Federal Court. The IRS and Social Security offices moved to other locations.

Keeping at least the federal courts, if not all the agencies, downtown is a concern of the GSA, Wilkinson said.

"The general commitment is there," he said. "We can't speak for every agency that's involved here. It has to make good business sense."

Downtown attorney and ISU trustee Rick Shagley said he thinks it is good business sense for ISU to have a presence downtown.

"The use of the building brings the campus closer to the community," he said. "I think it's been the philosophy of [ISU President Lloyd Benjamin] that the community and the campus become one."

Bischoff agreed that the proposal could be good for downtown and said he has confidence the courts will remain.

"I just don't see them shipping the federal bankruptcy court somewhere on the periphery [of town]," he said.

ISU's ownership of the Federal Building would ensure it stays in use, Nation said, "but where the dominoes fall from there is the next question."