Wabash Avenue development considered

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - Several vacant buildings on the north side of the 500 Block of Wabash Avenue could soon be torn down and replaced with new apartments and shops, one of the buildings’ owners said.

Attorney Mike Ellis said that, in recent years, he and his family have bought up the buildings in hopes of turning them into a new development.

“New construction that would encourage people to shop downtown, live downtown … the only thing that can be is a positive,” Ellis said Tuesday.

Ellis said he has been in discussions with Thompson-Thrift developers, and city officials said Thompson-Thrift is already purchasing the nearby bus terminal parking lot.

Still, Ellis said whether he keeps the property or sells it to Thompson-Thrift, the new developments on the site will meet very specific standards: shops and restaurants on street level and apartments in the floors above.

“It needs to look like downtown,” Ellis said. “It needs to hug the sidewalk, and it needs to give the appearance, even if it’s one building, that it’s multiple buildings.”

The apartments would be geared toward students, faculty and staff at Indiana State University, Ellis said. He also added that work on the project should begin in 2013.

Executives from Thompson-Thrift were unavailable to speak about the matter Tuesday afternoon.