3rd and West is the first of two residence hall approaches coming in the next two years. Plus, Wabash Township asks to dismiss ex-trustee’s defamation lawsuit. Solar farm sets open house. And more.
A busy week of news continues. I swear I’ll empty this notebooks and catch all the way up at some point. For now …
3RD AND WEST, FIRST OF TWO NEW PURDUE HOUSING PROJECTS IN THE WORKS, UNVEILED
Purdue and American Campus Communities held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday for 3rd and West.
Purdue and American Campus Communities on Wednesday showed off 3rd and West, the first of two housing projects intended to put more of the university’s burgeoning enrollment into on-campus settings.
3rd and West, a project initially proposed in 2019 as apartments in Purdue Research Foundation’s Discovery Park District, is technically off campus, just north of the Purdue West Shopping Center and across McCutcheon Drive from a cluster of campus residence halls.
But Purdue will pay $20.6 million to American Campus Communities over the next two school years to lease all 401 apartments in the facility, according to an agreement approved by Purdue trustees in December 2023. That agreement and 3rd and West’s switch to a campus housing solution came as the university was dealing with mounting criticism about record enrollment numbers that were swiftly outpacing available residence hall beds, requiring off-campus master leases and densification efforts that put additional beds into some dorm rooms.
In all, the five-story, 325,000-square-foot facility will house 984 students.
The mix for one-, two- and four-bedroom units include common areas with full kitchens, washers and dryers, and bathrooms. (Tarkington Hall, it’s not.) The G-shaped complex includes fitness and yoga rooms, courtyards with hammocks, and various study spaces, whether in an extended space on the ground floor or tucked into picture windows at the end of hallways.
3rd and West was designed to revert to apartments once Purdue’s master lease needs are up, Jeremy Roberts, vice president of planning and construction for American Campus Communities.
American Campus Communities, which has 151 apartment buildings in 81 U.S. college markets, owns and manages two other complexes near campus, including Chauncey Square in the Village area and Campus Edge, a 10-story apartment building at Pierce and Wood streets.
Meanwhile, work continues on an eight-story, 900-bed residence hall that will be focused on first-year students near First Street and MacArthur Drive, according to plans approved by Purdue trustees in 2023. The project also would renovate the dining hall at nearby Hillenbrand Hall, expanding capacity there from 516 to 778 seats to accommodate more students, according to those plans. The anticipated cost: $149 million. That is expected to open by fall 2026.
Residence hall advisors started moving into 3rd and West in the past week. Others are expected when Boiler Gold Rush starts in two weeks.
“We believe in a high-quality residential experience for all the Boilermakers,” Purdue President Mung Chiang said during ribbon-cutting ceremonies Wednesday afternoon. “We now have these two facilities adding 1,900 beds to University Residences.”
Chiang also said the fall 2025 semester would include dedensification efforts in residence halls, including some 830 beds, along with university promises to better manage the size of the incoming freshman class. Those official enrollment numbers will come after the fall 2025 semester starts Aug. 25.
The 3rd and West complex joins other off-campus apartment projects scheduled to open for the fall semester, against a backdrop of continued vacancy rates near campus of less than 1%. Those includes, according to city records:
4-Up, at Vine, Wiggins and Fowler: 334 beds
Ever, 147 W. Wood St.: 450 beds
Escher, 418 Harrison St.: 60 beds
221 Waldron: 82 beds
Here’s a look inside 3rd and West, during a tour Wednesday:
(Photos: Dave Bangert)
WABASH TOWNSHIP FILES MOTION TO DISMISS FORMER TRUSTEE’S CIVIL SUIT OVER BACKPAY
A correction before this next account: Last week, BiL reported that Jennifer Teising, former Wabash Township trustee, had a new attorney enter an appearance after her first attorney left her civil lawsuit against the township. As of Wednesday, that was not the case, according to the court docket.
Attorneys for Wabash Township and a list of township officials and employees this week filed a motion to dismiss a civil lawsuit by Jennifer Teising, the township’s former trustee who is suing for backpay and damages in the fallout from her tumultuous time in office.
In a motion filed Monday in Tippecanoe Circuit Court, attorneys contend that Teising’s claims against the township came beyond statutes of limitation, meaning they were too late to warrant a case. The motion also argues that Teising’s claims against individuals overreach what she’s allowed when going after those acting in their official capacities with the township.
Teising’s initial complaint argues she’s due up to $820,000, including $39,992 in backpay and assorted damages from allegations of defamation, criminal surveillance and civil conspiracy. That’s 20 times more than the $39,992.41 the Wabash Township Board approved in August 2024 as a proposed settlement for backpay to Teising.
Teising was forced from office as Wabash Township trustee in 2022 when she was convicted on 21 felony counts of theft tied to questions about her residency. In a January 2022 ruling, Tippecanoe Superior Judge Kristen McVey agreed with the prosecution, writing that after Teising sold her West Lafayette home in June 2020, tried to recruit a replacement as trustee and told people she planned to move to Florida, Teising’s pursuit of “a nomadic RV lifestyle” for the rest of 2020 and parts of 2021 was the same as forfeiting the position. McVey ruled that forfeiting the position while collecting a paycheck was the same as theft, as she’d been charged.
Teising claimed vindication when the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled later that year that the trial court got it wrong and that prosecutors hadn’t made their case. The Indiana Supreme Court backed that up in a February 2024 ruling, saying that if there were reasons Teising should have been booted from office, the prosecution hadn’t presented it.
Teising’s lawsuit contends she was the focus of a conspiracy, including tracking her phone against her knowledge to find out where she was – a key part of criminal case against her.
The township’s motion to dismiss discusses Teising’s tenure as “marked by controversy.”
“Her unilateral decisions angered and frustrated the board, the fire department and even her constituency, and were the focus of vigorous public debate and media coverage,” the motion argues. “Teising was closely scrutinized as a result, which is a common and expected part of the political and democratic process. The firestorm surrounding Teising intensified when it was discovered that she lived long stretches of time away from Indiana, which raised novel questions as to her constitutional eligibility to serve as the Wabash Trustee.”
The motion argues that Teising “selectively recounts these events, which are exhaustively detailed in the public record. Teising cherry-picks facts, heavily characterizes them, and then strings them together to tell a different story altogether. In Teising’s version, she bears no responsibility for her political and legal troubles. Instead, Teising claims she is the innocent victim of a conspiracy perpetrated by everyone that was in her orbit — the (township) board, her administrative staff, the fire department, the mayor of West Lafayette, local news media, state prosecutors, and even members of the community — to remove her from office unlawfully. This is revisionist history.”
In an order issued Wednesday, Tippecanoe Circuit Judge Sean Persin gave Teising 15 days to respond to the motion to dismiss.
The next hearing in the case is Aug. 18. On Wednesday, Persin’s order said he’d set a hearing on the motion to dismiss at that point.
OPEN HOUSE SET AUG. 13 FOR RAINBOW TROUT SOLAR PROJECT, AHEAD OF CRUCIAL VOTE
As crucial zoning vote approaches in three weeks, the companies hoping to build Tippecanoe County’s first utility-scale solar farm will hold a community open house from 4-7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 13, at the Convergence Center, 101 Foundry Drive in West Lafayette.
Molly Hale, director of marketing and communication for Geenex, said members of the team carrying the project dubbed Rainbow Trout will have tables set up to speak about the project during a series of events, including Mosey Down Main Street on Aug. 9, OutFest in downtown Lafayette on Aug. 16 and the Greater Lafayette Commerce Quarterly Development Series on Aug. 21.
Geenex and RWE Clean Energy have proposed a 120-megawatt solar project on 1,700 acres in western Tippecanoe County. Pushback from residents who live nearby has been growing since Geenex and RWE Clean Energy filed for the special exception in May for a project that covers miles of land from just north of Division Road to Jackson Highway in Montmorenci.
According to the application, property leases for the solar project would cover 1,791 acres, coming from six property owners. Of that, 1,051 acres are considered buildable and are anticipated to be used for the solar array and associated infrastructure, according to the application. The rest of the land will be used for required setbacks, buffers and environmental preservation, according to the 900-page application. The application also includes details decommissioning plans required under county zoning codes written four years ago for large-scale solar projects. Construction could start in 2026, with commercial operation starting in 2027, according to the application, with the project lasting an anticipated 35 years.
The project would include approximately 272,664 individual solar panels, according to the application. Those would be mounted on tracking systems that are about 180 feet long and can support 45 solar modules. Underground cables would lead to one of an estimated 53 inverters, which take direct current electricity generated by solar panels and convert it to alternating current electricity, which the electrical grid uses.
The key vote on Rainbow Trout was delayed earlier this summer to the Board of Zoning Appeals’ meeting Aug. 27. BZA approval on a special zoning exception would allow the solar project to move ahead, pending additional regulatory approval on drainage and other aspects coming after that.
Here’s more coverage, including maps, the county’s moratorium on other solar projects and more, leading up to that Aug. 27 hearing:
TRIBUTE TO ANGIE RIZZO, ‘ONE OF A KIND’ LAFAYETTE JOURNALIST
When I got to the Journal & Courier in 1989, Angie Rizzo was the HR director who made sure I had a key to the building, got me through the maze of hallways to the photo studio to get an ID made, basically picked the health insurance plan that made the most sense for a 24-year-old. It didn’t take long in the newsroom to hear the tales about Angie as a reporter and a no-BS editor with the receipts to show from a career that offered more than a few good lessons in being the right sort of badass. Angie died Friday in Florida, where she’d moved after retiring from the J&C. She was 88.
John Norberg, an Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame reporter who passed along more than his share of stories about working with and for Angie, wrote a tribute published Wednesday in the J&C. John asked if BiL readers, some of whom would have been J&C subscribers when Angie was on the beat, might like to see it. I think so. Here’s a portion, followed by a link to the full piece.
Angelyn Rizzo, a trailblazing, award-winning journalist who was the first woman named to management positions at the Lafayette Journal and Courier died Friday, August 1 in Ft. Myers, Florida. She was 88.
Angie Rizzo with John Norberg. (Photo via John Norberg)
She was hired at the newspaper in 1961, a time when the few females who worked in journalism locally and nationally were almost always assigned to sections covering social events and topics of interest to women.
Rizzo was a general assignment reporter, but she remembered being given assignments that focused on women. In 1965 her beautician sister dyed Rizzo’s dark hair blonde. So, Rizzo was asked to write a story titled “Do blondes have more fun?” based on a national advertising campaign at the time.
“It’s not certain yet if blondes have more fun,” she concluded. “But they sure do get more attention.”
Her story garnered attention. But Rizzo wanted to be a hard-news, breaking-news reporter on beats dominated by men. She returned to her dark hair color and quickly proved she could excel at any reporting job, writing not only features but also covering police, schools, city and county government, state government, courts, and more.
“When I was first here the receptionist went on vacation and the city editor said I had to take her place,” Rizzo said in a 1980 interview. It was tough to shed gender bias. The receptionist was a woman who answered the telephone and greeted guests to the newspaper office. When Rizzo asked her male boss why she had to fill in he replied, “you’re the only woman in the newsroom. We can’t ask a man to do it.”
She did it. And she never forgot it.
She was also expected to make coffee.
Ultimately, she opened doors for the many women who followed her. By 1980 when she was serving as managing editor, one-third of the Journal and Courier news staff was female. They were given opportunities Rizzo had fought to earn.
She supported the men who worked with her as well. As an editor, she was with a reporter when a man he was writing about who was under police investigation and had a reputation for assaults threatened to send him to the hospital. Rizzo stood up to the man and told him in no uncertain terms what she and the newspaper would do to him if he followed through with the threat.
The man walked away.
Retired Journal and Courier news editor and night editor Frank Koontz noted that Rizzo, a journalist unafraid to stand up to anyone or anything, died quietly in her sleep. “What a peaceful ending to a life more accustomed to raising hell than keeping the peace,” he said. “She was one of a kind.”
REDISTRICTING POWER PLAY IN INDIANA: Indianapolis Star reporter Tony Cook had this look at what could happen if a Texas-like fight over mid-decade redistricting of congressional seats lands in Indiana: “Amid a White House pressure campaign to redraw congressional district lines, Democrats in Indiana are vowing to fight back. In their most recent fundraising email, Indiana House Democrats evoked their 2011 walkout over right-to-work legislation opposed by labor unions. … The fundraising pitch, however, omits a key fact: Republicans hold supermajorities in both chambers of the Indiana General Assembly, meaning they have enough members for a quorum even without a single Democrat present. The omission highlights a bleak truth for Indiana Democrats. Unlike their colleagues in Texas, they would be virtually powerless to stop a vote on new congressional maps.” Here’s more from Cook’s report: “If Trump's redistricting war comes to Indiana, Indiana Democrats will have few weapons.”
INDYCAR DRIVER PATO O’WARD ‘CAUGHT … OFF GUARD’ ‘SPEEDWAY SLAMMER’ POST: Via the Associated Press: “IndyCar driver Pato O’Ward and series officials were shocked by a social media post from the Department of Homeland Security that touts plans for an immigration detention center in Indiana dubbed ‘Speedway Slammer,’ and includes a car with the same number as the only Mexican driver in the series. ‘It caught a lot of people off guard. Definitely caught me off guard,’ O’Ward said Wednesday. ‘I was just a little bit shocked at the coincidences of that and, you know, of what it means. ... I don’t think it made a lot of people proud, to say the least.’” Read more here: “IndyCar officials and Pato O’Ward shocked by ICE-related ‘Speedway Slammer’ post.”
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What a great tribute to Angie Rizzo by Frank Koontz.
Moments ago I was talking to my 90-something aged godmother, and it's amazing how far women's lives have (had to) come and that the boot of chauvinism (and race) is still lurking and casting threats again. My godmother is envious of the world my daughter enjoys, and is fearful the hard-won equality may be rolled back quickly.
I didn't know Rizzo well, but I'm glad to have been part of her newsroom for a short spell.
My wife's first manager was a similarly minded and acting woman in the manufacturing/engineering world. Gone too soon, but my family owes her a debt to for the guff not taken, and pushing doubly hard against it.
All of us are riding the shoulders of woman that dared push hard in the 1970's despite calls to play nice and fetch the coffee.
What a great tribute to Angie Rizzo by Frank Koontz.
Moments ago I was talking to my 90-something aged godmother, and it's amazing how far women's lives have (had to) come and that the boot of chauvinism (and race) is still lurking and casting threats again. My godmother is envious of the world my daughter enjoys, and is fearful the hard-won equality may be rolled back quickly.
I didn't know Rizzo well, but I'm glad to have been part of her newsroom for a short spell.
My wife's first manager was a similarly minded and acting woman in the manufacturing/engineering world. Gone too soon, but my family owes her a debt to for the guff not taken, and pushing doubly hard against it.
All of us are riding the shoulders of woman that dared push hard in the 1970's despite calls to play nice and fetch the coffee.
How much property tax revenue is WL losing because of these leases?
WL should not be subsidizing Purdue, especially when the costs borne by the city are due to enrollment greed.