The financing plan is complete and preparations are now under way to take construction bids on the long-awaited renovation of the Education and Arts Building.
The facility will be designed as a modern, high-tech classroom building featuring computer labs, conference rooms, student lounges, a 130-seat lecture hall, rehearsal rooms, photography lab, painting and drawing studios, video lab, dental hygiene clinic, patient consultation area, restrooms, and offices. It is expected that nearly 2,000 students will use the facility on a regular basis. IU South Bend chancellor Una Mae Reck says, “The facility will provide a modern teaching and learning environment and will complete the physical layout of the campus.”
The Education and Arts Building is a 1958-built facility spanning 129,000 square feet. It sits at a premiere location on campus at the corner of Ruskin and Esther streets. The two story building was part of a 13-acre parcel purchased by Indiana University from the Associates Corporation of North America in December of 1974. The purchase included four buildings and 14 residential structures.
Once completed, the Education and Arts Building will be the home to the School of Education, fine arts programs from the Ernestine M. Raclin School of Arts and the dental hygiene program from the College of Health Sciences.
The bonding plan received final approval by the Indiana Finance Authority in March 2010, and work is now under way to finalize design plans. Construction is estimated to cost in the range of $20 million. The project was originally approved by the 2007 General Assembly and was subsequently approved by the State Budget Committee.
