EVANSVILLE— While two possible sites for the Indiana University School of Medicine-Evansville have recently gone public with their pitches, advocates for building the campus Downtown are quiet.
Mayor Lloyd Winnecke said that’s because IU still hasn’t made a formal request for proposals. Downtown is Winnecke’s first choice, although he said if the campus is not built there, he hopes it goes somewhere in the city. City Council leaders also advocate Downtown.
A consultant to IU, Tripp Umbach, described Downtown as the “optimal” site. A survey of local medical professionals showed preference for an East Side location.
IU’s request for proposals is expected sometime this month. The Board of Trustees is to choose a site as early as February.
The mayor did say Friday that he has a “preferred” location in the Downtown area, and a team is working on the plan. He declined to say who’s involved, citing the competitive process and the sensitivity of property negotiations.
Winnecke said some demolition would be required at just about any Downtown location, but reuse of existing structures is possible.
“We’re trying to be as low-key as possible on our approach,” Winnecke said. “We don’t think a PR effort wins the day with the IU Board of Trustees before they’ve even released their RFP ... We’ve got a great concept, and we continue to flush it out. Once we see the RFP, we’ll be able to say more about where we’d like to see it. We’ve looked at three, probably four general areas of Downtown over the last several months. All of them have strengths and weaknesses. We’ve landed on the one site we think has the most strengths.
“Now, when we see the RFP, and it says we need this or need that, it might be that we fall back on one of our other sites. But my sense is the site we’ve kind of landed on is going to be able to fulfill all the requirements of the RFP.”
The Promenade, a planned multiuse development in the city limits at Burkhardt and Oak Grove roads, covets the project. Developer Hirsch-Martin Development LLC conducted a news conference last week.
Warrick County officials went public with their push for a location near Deaconess Gateway Hospital, and it’s believed the University of Southern Indiana will make a pitch to keep the IU Medical Center-Evansville on its campus, west of the city limits.
Winnecke noted other property owners could come forward with proposals.
Winnecke, who said he has no problem with being viewed as champion of Downtown’s push for the campus, said specifics of Downtown’s proposal are not final and won’t be until after IU’s request for proposals arrives.
Winnecke said Downtown and the medical school are a good match.
“Downtown brings at lot to the project. For the city itself, it offers an infusion of excitement and vitality that would totally change the perception and reality of Downtown,” he said. “The whole vibe changes.”
City Council Vice President Dan Adams, an at-large Democrat and a retired physician, is an adjunct instructor in the IU School of Medicine-Evansville. He’s been involved in IU’s local expansion project for about two years.
Adams agreed with Winnecke that the project’s impact on Downtown would be substantial.
“Every person who is trying to have this come to their area knows this,” Adams said. “It’s a most desirable thing.”