OK I ran numbers on land holdings. Using the addresses from the Vitalize Valpo plan. Here is the current prices of the land holdings. It seems to be the school is primarily interested in joint ventures.
1201 Linconway and 1209 Lincolnway (3D Plot). Valued at 3.5 million. School wants a joint venture but is interested in outright sale to qualified buyers.
EastGate/Sturdy Road. No listed price. THe school has no listed price for Eastgate. The reasoning seems to be the school wants to keep with the RFP and wants multiple bids for development on the property. The emphasis seems to be companies interested in senior living and mixed use commercial property.
2500 Silhavey ROad. Plans must already be underway for this property as the listing has been removed. Don't know how much the land was selling for.
Old Campus. NO information Available
All in all the entirety of the land holdings is probably at least 20 million dollars in value for outright sale. However, outright sale of land is not the mission. The mission is for joint property ventures so the school can earn passive income off of these properties via joint ventures.
@rezynezy Pres. Padilla recently announced that the university had abandoned plans for joint ventures.
THen the land holdings are at least 20 million. Simple as that. With the current market and demand for real estate in the Valpo and Crown Point area. I see no reason why they cannot get more money for these properties. Still, these pay a miniscule amount of the money needed for the current projects.
Ok, so you either take the cash the real estate or from the art work. Either way, you need to resolve the old dorm issue ASAP!
THen the land holdings are at least 20 million. Simple as that.
It’s not that simple. Some of that land may have been gifted with conditions about how the proceeds are to be used.
@kreitzerstl That wasnt the point. The point was the total valuation of the land holdings. Nothing about how that land must be used. Obviously zoning laws apply. AVRO website has all the zoning listed in detail. Old Campus, 2500 Silhavey, and 1502 Lincolnway are all zoned as campus, with 1502 Lincolnway being zoned for comerical and General. 3D and Eastgate are the major properties and are all open land plots purchased and are being sold by AVRO. No string attached it seems as these lots either have buyers or are actively seeking buyers.
@rezynezy I’m sorry you misunderstood my point.
Let’s say I gift a parcel of land to the university, under the conditions that the proceeds from the sale must go to benefit, say, the College of Engineering or a scholarship in my father’s name. The university cannot, then, sell the land to fund dorm renovations.
Such conditions would not be a matter of public record but would be documented with the development office.
@kreitzerstl such land donations are listed as "campus" meaning it is under campus regulations in which they need to be sold or used. The parcels of land that are front and center, those being Eastgate snd 3D, are under no restrictions from ehat I can find. The same restrictions exist on the endowment fund as well.
To the discussion on connecting with alums, I did see the announcement of the 'tour' by President Padilla. Good to do this, but I can't help but wonder why three of the midwestern cities that are likely to have the most alums (Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis) are last in the tour of 11 locations..and don't take place until May 2025. Why wouldn't you prioritize the locations where you might get the most impact?
@vu84v2 In looking at the locations, the first batch of locations are known major hubs for technology and healthcare. With the CONHP and engineering/technology market and majors seeing increased demand. It seems like a good play to go to where these alumni would be located first. Perhaps court some donors for the CONHP building and raise funds for some health and engineering related scholarships to lower the price tag. The school could also be looking to improve the CS and IT related fields as well considering their investment into dallas and Indianapolis (Indy is a double whammy for IT and healthcare).
Perhaps they understand their impact in the areas you describe is considerable, so they are attempting to establish impact in major hubs for industries the school is looking to expand their pull in.
Rez - I can see your point to some degree regarding technology fields, but not healthcare. How would Chicago not be considered a hub for healthcare? Additionally, if your theory is true, I would expect the Deans of Nursing, Engineering, etc. to be included in these trips...after all, they have far better knowledge of their fields and possible relationships/partnerships than the administration or alumni relations staff.
I am just dubious on whether the administration intends to move beyond the transactional relationships it has with alums. There are a number of hard issues over the last 3-5 years in which alums have not been allowed any voice. I fully understand that the university is the decision maker and would not argue for anything else. Its just that if they want a relationship with more alums, they need to engage, listen, and explain their rationale...not just transmit and ask for money. Further, relationships are likely to yield greater donations.
Oh relationships should and must be established in the future. My assumption is the last paragraph of my previous statement is the internal rationale for hitting these areas last.
@rezynezy - do you work in the alumni office? A couple of times in this thread, you’ve articulated things that the alumni office should be saying.
@kreitzerstl Everything I have articulated is anything a competent alumni office should be doing to get a donor base that keeps coming back
@rezynezy and yet their donors are not coming back. Their annual fund goal is 20% lower this year. That shouldn’t happen in a healthy development office.
for what it’s worth, I have not been asked to renew my (modest) gift of a few years ago. But I have been asked to share the story of how I met my wife on campus (I did not).
