Purdue aerospace park may push out student farm

There's a bulls-eye on vast swaths of land west of the Purdue University campus currently used for gardening and recreational space.

The campus assets all sit in an ideal location for massive future development, connecting Purdue's planned aerospace technology park to the State Street project.

Officials say the projects won't implicate any of this green space any time soon. But several campus stakeholders seem to suggest the opposite.

In April, Purdue University unveiled plans for the aerospace technology park, which encapsulates Maurice Zucrow Laboratories, Purdue Airport and recently acquired Lafayette Aviation. The aerospace park also will offer land for private aerospace enterprises to open businesses and collaborate with Purdue researchers.

Meanwhile, earlier this year, the State Street Master Plan was unveiled, detailing the transformation of West Lafayette's main artery to promote economic development.

Several campus amenities, such as the Purdue Village gardens, Purdue West Shopping Center, a large intramural field, a student-run farm and a portion of Horticulture Park, lie within the scope of both projects and on land owned by Purdue Research Foundation.

Development in these areas represents a financial opportunity for the university and the city, as any tax revenues generated from future developments can be reinvested directly into the area.

"I think these things are very exciting for the long-term future of this school," Purdue President Mitch Daniels said.

But that's left university leadership to weigh the benefits of an economic boost against the implications of moving student-centric spaces farther from campus.

Leaders say no changes coming soon

Dan Hasler, CEO of Purdue Research Foundation, said a majority of the sprawling 980-acre tech park likely won't be developed any time soon.

PRF and Purdue are instead focusing on the first phase — 160 acres west of Zucrow labs — due to its ideal location in relation to the labs, the airport runway, the university, U.S. 231 and the research park north of campus.

"This park out here has been in existence for 45 years (and) we're a third full," he said of Purdue's flagship park on Win Hentschel Boulevard. "These parks are very long-term enterprises."

Likewise, Daniels said the State Street project shouldn't immediately involve the land west of campus.

"No plans immediately," he said. "It might be contingent on what happens along State Street and how fast."

But Hasler said in a decade or so, the intramural fields, gardens and other assets could be relocated to accommodate strategic initiatives.

"There's nothing imminent here," he said, "but reasonable people would look at those parcels of ground and say, 'Gee, for the whole community, in the next 10 to 20 to 30 years, are there likely to be more valuable uses for those lands for employment, for study, for academics, for commerce?' "

Intramural field looking for temporary home

Yet interviews with various stakeholders suggest the student farm and intramural field could get the boot much sooner to make way for future development.

Purdue's division of recreational sports is in the process of repurposing a PRF-owned plot of land farther west at the intersection of U.S. 231 and Lindberg Road, about 2 miles from campus.

Howard Taylor, director of recreational sports, said the much smaller plot — as much as 10 acres — will serve as a temporary home for the black intramural field — which is about 28 acres — until more permanent accommodations are made.

"It is a temporary thing. It's not something that they will allow us to use permanently," Taylor said in a phone interview. "Now, with that said, what does temporary mean? We never actually came down and said, 'This long.' I think they're trying to work with us and help us find solutions so that we can meet the student needs short-term and also prepare for whatever long-term things that are out there."

Purdue's Board of Trustees voted in February to swap the black intramural field with PRF in exchange for a parcel of land south of campus. Taylor insisted, however, that the division of recreational sports is being proactive in finding a new location rather than being nudged out by PRF.

"Let's be proactive and find a long-term solution for all of these groups that we know are eventually going to need to have a place," he said. "I don't know for sure when that's going to be, but I would rather do something now."

Kim Hardaway, Purdue Village residential life manager, said she wasn't sure how the projects might affect the Village gardens just south of the intramural field. She declined to comment further.

Student Farm relocating

After informal discussions with PRF, the College of Agriculture expects the student farm will need to relocate as soon as January, said Jerry Fankhauser, director of Purdue agricultural centers.

"When that farm was started three to four years ago, there was always the understanding it was on ground that was PRF-owned and managed and it could be used for development anytime," Fankhauser said. " ... We've just been told to be prepared and it may be as soon as next year and it may be down the road a ways."

Farm organizer Steve Hallett declined to indicate when and where the farm might relocate, saying he doesn't "have a lot of concrete information right now." He did confirm the farm is looking at two plots of PRF-owned land.

Rachel Beyer, a staff member who manages the student farm, said neither location is accessible on foot from campus.

"Students would really need to at least take the bus, if not have a car," she said. "One of them you would absolutely need a car to get to."

Hasler said there is no such end-of-the-year deadline for the farm. He said PRF donated the land to the farm on a year-to-year basis with the understanding that a new location would be necessary in the event of any development.

"There are no imminent plans as of right now to use that ground or to develop it out," he said. "I have no buyers or no one showing interest."

$8 million projects

The West Lafayette City Council last month approved a $3 million project to install water and sewer utility lines in preparation for future development on land west of the McCormick/Airport Road and State Street intersection, said Chandler Poole, the city's director of development.

The council approved another $5 million project to reconfigure and relocate Todd's Creek, a drainage system that runs in the area of Airport Road, because it is an impediment to development, Greg Napier of Purdue Research Foundation indicated during the meeting.

The black intramural field, Village gardens and student farm all are southwest of the McCormick/Airport Road and State Street intersection.

"There are a couple things (developments) we are working on," Poole said. "They're still their infancy, if you will. Nothing concrete, but we know we have to have these to move those forward but also to attract others that will be interested in that area."

Daniels confirmed there are active conversations ongoing with potential investors.

"We have some thoughts, and we have been approached by a party or two," he said.

Poole said the city works hand-in-hand with Purdue and the research foundation when preparing for development. He noted the campus amenities in the path of the utility project could be affected "many years from now."

"We're trying to get that first intersection really looked at," he said. "That will be the real prime area to develop, and then as you go toward the student farm and what not, all that stuff will be taken into consideration. ... Can we build around it? All that is part of the whole team — Purdue, West Lafayette and PRF — on designing that area."

One thing that's sure to remain: Purdue West Shopping Center, which will offer retail and restaurant space to future tech park clients, Hasler said.

"PRF owns the Purdue West Shopping Center," Hasler said. "We have no plans to change the use of that property as the aerospace district grows because providing restaurants, coffee shops, clothing stores, etc. is an important amenity for those in the park and a strong recruiting tool for the park. The location of the site is ideal for this purpose."

Community assets

Taylor said about eight clubs use the black intramural field, along with student and staff groups who reserve the field about 50 times a year. That doesn't include informal visits by the community for recreational purposes.

"We're already crowded for space at times," he said.

Relocating also can take time, Taylor noted.

"If we were to find an area that was unused, it's going to take 18 months to two years to really develop it into a good play field area," he said.

Anyone in the community can rent a plot at the Village gardens or buy fresh fruits and vegetables from the student farm at farmers markets and through its farm-share program. It's a real asset for students to have the farm and gardens close to campus, Beyer said.

"This farm offers a special thing (to students) that not a lot of other places on campus do," she said, "with a connection to a natural space that they can interact with and manipulate and make into their own thing."

And just like the intramural field, the farm can't pick up and move in a short time frame, she said.

"Some of the administration at the university was really generous several years ago in donating an investment to help the farm get started, and a lot of that money has been spent and is in infrastructure and soil that we can't really move with us," she said. "So we are also trying to figure out financially, how do we get that capital back to start up again if we have to relocate?"

Hasler noted these assets are central to student life and to the community. They would be moved to the most desirable location possible in the event of future development, he noted, with support from PRF.

"Students want these kinds of amenities," he said, "so it's in the interest of everyone to make sure there are great opportunities for healthy ... pursuits for students to marry up to their academics."

He added that the aerospace park could spur retail and other industry activity in the area, as has happened in the park north of campus, which could be beneficial to students, as well.

"When corporations come into the park, other companies come in to serve them, like day cares, exercise facilities, restaurants, hotels," he said, "and so the reason that (first phase) is so important is that it creates that magnet that causes other services to come in and hire Hoosiers."

In the end, Daniels said any decision will be made in the interest of Purdue students.

"I've always been so impressed with how attentive Purdue is to the extracurricular aspects of the college experience," he said, "and so we always will be."