City ties restrictions on Purdue master leases to 13-story Hub Chauncey plan

Condition would prevent taking apartments off property tax rolls. Area Plan Commission recommends rezoning, as replacement for Chauncey Hill Mall heads to West Lafayette City Council for Sept. 3 vote

A proposed 13-story planned development for the emptied Chauncey Hill Mall site sailed through Wednesday evening, getting a unanimous Area Plan Commission recommendation for its rezoning request, the closest any developer has made it to a final vote from the West Lafayette City Council for the prime, 2.6-acre site two blocks from Purdue.

The West Lafayette City Council will get its say Sept. 3 on this one, the third serious bid to redevelop the L-shaped strip mall that opened at the crest of State Street hill in 1979.

“We’ve been at this one for a good few years,” Ryan O’Gara, executive director of the Area Plan Commission, said Wednesday.

The details laid out for APC members put Hub Chauncey at 681 apartments, with as many as 1,687 beds, split between a mix of student-oriented and market rate units and following the footprint of Chauncey Hill Mall’s L-shaped retail space. It would have 36,554 square feet of commercial space and 544 parking spaces in an underground garage. It also has a public plaza space that sits roughly where Chauncey Hill Mall parking is now, near the corner of State Street and Chauncey Avenue.

More details were in this Based in Lafayette Q&A over the weekend with Jonathan Kubow, managing director of development for Core Spaces Chicago, the company leading a project expected to break ground this fall and be finished in time for the fall 2027 semester at Purdue.

A few extra details:

In case there are Purdue master leases …: One condition the city tied to Hub Chauncey was a prohibition on automatically erasing property tax exemptions if Core Spaces or future owners sign master lease agreements with Purdue University Residences for student housing.