Township, CCS discussing deal for building housing Ivy Tech

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CIC COM Community Life and Learning CenterCarmel Clay Schools is seriously interested in acquiring the Community Life and Learning Center, and Clay Township is becoming increasingly interested in getting the costly property off its books.

The township currently spends about $100,000 per year in County Option Income Tax money to support the 30,000-square-foot building at 515 E. Main St., which houses Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana and the Legacy Fund. At a meeting last Monday, each member of the Clay Township board said this is an expense the township cannot continue to absorb, and the board has supposedly been approached by multiple suitors with an interest in the property.

CIC COM Community Life and Learning Center Matthew Snyder
Snyder

The interested party perhaps most likely to acquire the building sits across the street. At the meeting, CCS publicly expressed its interest in the center, which Director of Student Services Steve Dillon said could be used to offer new programs to Carmel High School seniors during school hours.

Current in Carmel earlier this year reported that if legislation creating a designation of “high-performing school corporation” were to be passed, CCS would use the freedoms likely to come with such a distinction to give Carmel High School seniors new programs designed to further prepare them for college. The CLLC would likely be used for these types of programs, Dillon said.

“We would be interested in entering into discussions with Ivy Tech and other schools in the state about the possibility of offering a senior semester. We are exploring these options right now,” he said. “Wouldn’t it be great to . . . allow our students to begin their college courses before their college careers even begin?”

But while the board’s members said they support the idea of keeping higher education in Carmel, they are not willing to give away the building. The board said the township has put significant sums of money into restoring and maintaining the building, including recently spending more than $300,000 to replace the roof.

“We continue to put money into the building,” the board secretary Mary Eckard said. “There has to, at some point, be some money coming back to the township.”

Eckard’s fellow board member, Matthew Snyder, suggested $500,000 as a purchase price the board might find acceptable. No action was taken at the meeting.


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