New Fiji house could disrupt homes

Between Indiana and Woodlawn avenues, remnants of the 1920s and ’30s remain standing in the area’s architecture, seamed together by the only brick streets remaining in Bloomington.

Spanning from East Seventh to 10th streets, the neighborhood known as the University Courts was added to the State Register of Historic Places in 1992 and to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

The Bloomington Historical Preservation Commission and some local residents now fear this history is at risk with a proposal to build a new house for the fraternity Phi Gamma Delta — known as Fiji — in the area. The proposed move is predominately to follow IU’s master plan for campus. Currently sitting on Third Street next to the Maurer School of Law, Fiji is the only non-academic building located in the Old Crescent, the oldest part of IU’s campus.

Part of IU’s master plan for the Old Crescent focuses on revitalizing the area as an academic hub, said Mark Land, IU associate vice president of public affairs and government relations. About five years ago, this meant using the property to expand the law school, which was becoming overcrowded, Land said.

With law school admissions down nationally, an expansion won’t happen for the foreseeable future, he said. Regardless, the University is interested in utilizing the area where the fraternity now sits to return the Old Crescent to its academic roots, Land said.

Allowing Fiji to move to the University Courts area was part of the deal struck between IU and the fraternity when the discussion first began. To Land’s knowledge, all sororities and fraternities at IU own the land their houses sit on, he said. Because of this, there isn’t much IU can do to make Fiji leave their current location if they don’t want to.

“Sometimes what people say is, ‘why don’t you just make them move?’” Land said. “We could try to use eminent domain, but that’s a very confrontational way to work. We don’t want to be in the business of shoving our students around like that.”

Other spots around campus, like the Jordan extension, were suggested, Land said, but Fiji vetoed the other locations, wanting to keep their close vicinity to campus.

Members of Fiji declined to comment on the deal.

To follow the master plan, IU must expand onto the property where Fiji sits. Moving the fraternity to University Courts is not only what Fiji wants, but would also coincide with IU’s master plan to focus University Courts into a hub for student life. For this to happen as planned, it would mean losing properties deemed historically important by Bloomington.

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The neighborhood known as University Courts originally formed around 1910 on land formerly belonging to Moses Dunn, a member of the prominent Dunn family whom Dunn Meadow is named after.

When a fire in 1883 destroyed IU’s original campus, new buildings went up in the area that is now the Old Crescent, according to the preservation commission.
 
By the 1900s, developers saw the potential to capitalize on the proximity to the growing campus, and soon University courts became filled with IU professors and local businessmen, according to the commission.

State law mandates Indiana towns to focus on historical preservation in the community by forming a commission with members appointed by the mayor, commission member and former chairwoman Sandi Clothier said.

For Fiji to join University Courts, five houses would have to be either demolished or moved off the property for new construction to begin, Land said. The new fraternity house would be located on the corner of Eighth Street and Woodlawn Avenue, right next to the already standing Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. Among the houses in the way is Bloomington’s only prairie style home, Clothier said.

Although the houses have historical significance, they are starting to fall into disrepair, Land said. Eventually a decision will have to be made whether it is worth renovating or just building something new, he said.

Clothier said she fears this new construction will cause a domino effect for the area, putting other buildings at risk of demolition, something the commission is powerless to stop. Any private citizen or business wishing to make physical changes to a building they own must receive approval from the preservation commission if the property is on the historical register.

However, state universities are exempted by state law from needing approval for changes to historic buildings they own, Clothier said. This means IU could potentially do whatever it wants with its buildings without talking to the commission.

Anyone familiar with the neighborhood knows the University owns a majority of the buildings, which is why Clothier said she is worried this could be the start of a worsening relationship between IU and Bloomington.

“Regardless of what happens to these properties, it means we really don’t have a sense of agreement,” she said.

Because all of the land in question is state-owned, the city has no say in what IU does, Land said. The University has always had a good relationship with the city though, he said, and they always work to keep the people of Bloomington aware of plans. The IU administration understands there is a responsibility to be a good neighbor, Land said.

“I think it’s a very troubling situation because it really seems to be a change in how the University is interested in working with the city,” Clothier said. “Up until now, we’ve always been able to work things out.”

Clothier said the commission feels IU didn’t reach out to the city. There was little dialogue between the two parties over the issue, she said, and the commission found out about the plans just like everyone else when it became public knowledge.

This sparked the commission to write a letter to the University in August, stating the reasons why the buildings were significant structures and shouldn’t be touched. The administration responded with a polite letter stating its lack of interest in working with the commission, she said.

“When you look at what is happening because they (IU administration) don’t have to follow the laws, this could start happening more,” she said. “And if the University system is not interested in working with the goals of the city, then we really don’t have any idea what the future will be for Bloomington.”

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Although the possible plans are between IU and Fiji, the actual deal would be between the IU Foundation and the fraternity, Land said. The foundation is a nonprofit that isn’t run by the IU administration, but it exists to benefit the University.

Since almost all large construction projects are paid for by donations, the IU Foundation handles the logistics of the transaction, Land said. Fiji has been given about two years to raise money and show it is serious about the move.

When and if Fiji is able to afford a new house, IU will transfer ownership of the properties in University Courts to the foundation. Fiji and the foundation will then basically just trade properties, Land said, and each party would be responsible for paying for their own construction.

If the time does come for new construction in University Courts, the houses at risk could be purchased and removed if so desired, Land said.

He said when IU plans on just demolishing buildings they typically first offer them at a cheap price, selling only the buildings and not the land. Structures could be sold for $1,000, he said, something not remotely close to what the land is actually worth. The buyer is then required to have the building moved to a new location.

If and when the time comes, IU would publicly announce that interested parties can start submitting bids for the buildings.

It’s not something IU looks to make money off of, Land said. Since having a home moved is an expensive undertaking, Land said, IU offers them up cheap. If no one were interested, they would then be torn down.

In the foreseeable future, no changes will be happening to University Courts.

Because IU is not in desperate need for the space Fiji currently owns, they have the luxury of time to figure things out, Land said.

The deal with Fiji might not pan out, he said, and then there would be even less of a rush to build over the historic buildings from the University Courts.

“We do not have a compelling reason right now to knock anything down,” Land said. “At some point, we will have to decide if it’s worth fixing them up, but there haven’t been any set decisions.”

Follow reporter Jake Wright on Twitter @fljwright.