Ball State University rewarded for Thinking Mixed Use

The National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP) recently held the 2012 Indiana NAIOP University Competition, where student teams were challenged to create a development plan for a client seeking a new 500,000 square foot cross-dock distribution facility in the Indianapolis Metro Area. While other schools selected green-field sites outside of the city, Ball State University developed an innovative plan for the facility to be an infill project within a horizontal mixed-use district.

The Ball State team selected a site on Indianapolis’s Eastside that would give employees the ability to walk to work and surrounding retail amenities. Included in the proposal were sustainable features such as a photovoltaic roof system and an unprecedented partnership with Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, Inc. to use excess land on the site for the purpose of community gardens that would serve Indianapolis grocers and restaurants that seek locally grown food. “We knew going into the competition that we were going to take a much different approach than the other teams,” said BSU Co-Captain Jake Dietrich. “We found an infill site in a horizontally mixed-use district that allowed us to create a project that was not only financially viable, but environmentally sustainable as well.”

Ball State won the “Audience Choice Award” and was praised for their creativity by senior executives from industry leading companies such as Duke Realty, CBRE, Prologis, and Cassidy Turley. Keystone Construction Corporation’s Greg Martz was pleasantly surprised with what Ball State put together. “Ball State pushed the envelope with their proposal because it forced the audience to think beyond the bottom line. It was an absolute success.”

Congratulations to the Ball State University team on their award and for choosing to “Think Mixed Use™.”