Think downtown Terre Haute is dead? Think again

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October 13, 2009

By Dennis Clark The Tribune Star Tue Oct 13, 2009, 05:34 PM EDT

TERRE HAUTE — Take a leisurely drive through downtown Terre Haute today, then compare it to the same journey say, five or 10 years ago. Wow, what a difference.

Not one, but two new hotels (Hilton Garden Inn and Candlewood Suites) dot the present-day skyline, along with a state-of-the-art city bus station/parking garage, a federal court building, plus chain restaurants Grand Traverse Pie Co. and Roly Poly.

There has been the addition of several small art galleries, the remodeling of existing businesses such as Hulman & Co./Clabber Girl, the Saratoga Restaurant and Coffee Grounds. The Ohio Building, too, has undergone an amazing transformation.

Coming attractions include a new Children’s Museum, the former federal building (currently being remodeled by its new owner, Indiana State University), plus a Barnes and Noble bookstore.

The list goes on and on. What spurred this turnaround?

“With the Terre Haute House coming down, that was a pretty significant step,” stated Terre Haute Mayor Duke Bennett. “To get rid of it, get people out of the mindset of ‘what are we going to do with it?’ It was given time. A lot of people looked at it and it just didn’t work out.”

“A lot of hopes were hung on the [Terre Haute House],” agreed Andrew Conner, executive director of Downtown Terre Haute Inc.. “There were lots of people who said, ‘Oh, a hotel downtown will never work’. The important thing now is that we have an open hotel at Seventh and Wabash … a real magnet for bringing people downtown.”

“I was hoping we could save the [Terre Haute House],” added Saratoga owner and Terre Haute City Councilman George Azar. “But that’s something folks finally realized it’s just not going to happen. Now, look what’s going on, there’s life at Seventh and Wabash again.”

Life indeed.

“It was also one of those moments in time where a lot of things came together,” Bennett noted. “Then business owners started looking around [at the progress] and saw what they could do to improve their property, too.”

Another big change in recent years is the large number of people making the choice to live downtown. Bennett, Conner and Azar all agree, to varying degrees, that Center City played a key role in that trend.

By estimates from both Conner and Bennett, approximately 100 new or renovated apartments presently dot the downtown landscape.

“[Center City’s] given a kickstart to the downtown housing market,” Conner said. “Just like there were people that said a hotel downtown would never work, there were people who said nobody wants to live downtown.

“You can debate the design, or the financing, or the cost,” he said. “But the fundamental test is that it proved there are lots of people that want to live downtown and are willing to pay $500, $600, $800 a month to live in nice apartments. Some of those are new apartments like Center City, some of them are renovated spaces in historic buildings.”

“Center City was one of those projects you were either for it or against it, there was no in between,” Bennett noted. “They seem to be doing well. I hear they’ve got a waiting list. That’s great for them and puts people downtown.”

“The structure is not the most beautiful aspect of the downtown,” Azar countered. “It doesn’t really fit in sometimes with the historical nature of the downtown. But it’s better than an empty lot with grass and weeds growing on it. There’s life down there, people are staying there now … it’s full.”

What’s coming down the pike?

All three are excited about the prospect of major retailer Barnes and Noble locating in the near future on the south side of Cherry Street between Fourth and Fifth streets.

“[ISU] is operating the bookstore on campus right now and to move it out, make it more of a retail destination for the entire community and not just ISU, is a pretty significant step,” Bennett said. “It’s a good fit for the west end of downtown.

“With Indiana State moving closer to the Wabash Avenue area, it’s melting that Cherry Street border that’s been there for years,” he said.

Bennett also hinted that at some time in the future, “hopefully to be completed in the next five years,” the city will be seeking new facilities in the downtown area to house Fire Station No. 5 and the Police Department.

Dennis Clark can be reached at (812) 231-4227 or dennis.clark@tribstar.com.

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