Staff report, Vincennes Sun-Commercial

Site work has begun for Vincennes University's new student recreation center and the Red Skelton Performing Arts Center, both being built on the north end of the campus close to St. Clair Street between Chestnut and First streets.

Crews with Wabash Utilities Inc. moved a water line along St. Clair and Chestnut streets Wednesday, preparing the site for construction that should begin in earnest in the next few days.

The two projects total $23 million worth on investment in the campus. The $16-million Skelton center is scheduled to be ready by at the end of 2005. The 63,000 square-foot brick facility will feature a two-balcony theater that seats more than 850 and a performing arts education center with offices and classrooms.

Many in the community, including the Sun-Commercial on its editorial page, have supported construction of the Skelton center as well as a proposed accompanying Red Skelton museum, saying the projects would become tourist attractions ultimately benefiting the local economy.

A study prepared by ArtsMarket Inc., a Bozeman, Mont., consulting firm, predicted the facility would pump more than $3 million annually into the county economy.
The $6-million, 70,000 square foot brick student recreation facility should be ready for use in the fall of 2005. It will include a fitness center, four basketball courts, 200-meter track, steam rooms, and locker rooms.

Designed entirely for student recreation, the addition of the building will complement adjacent indoor and outdoor recreation facilities, as well alleviate schedule conflicts when the P.E. Complex is used for intercollegiate sports and other events.

Empire Contractors Inc., Evansville, was awarded the contract on the facility. In the course of getting the land for the projects the university has had to sue some property owners in the Portland Avenue area to condemn their properties.

Most of land which VU needed for the projects has already been purchased. According to the Knox County Assessor's office, the university has spent more than $2.8 million buying 54 tracts in the neighborhood. It plans to purchase another 23 properties.

The land will be used for parking lots because the current parking areas are being utilized as construction sites.

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812-464-1947 (phone) • 812-465-7061 (fax) • e- mail tmahoney@usi.edu

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