> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://bsquarebulletin.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Methodists OK step toward $8.8M deal for student housing at old post office lot - URL: https://bsquarebulletin.com/methodists-ok-step-toward-8-8m-deal-for-student-housing-at-old-post-office-lot/ - Published: 2026-09-01T10:50:37.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-01T10:50:37.000Z - Description: First United Methodist Church is moving toward an $8.8 million sale of its downtown South Lot to Core Spaces for a 350- to 400-bedroom student housing project. It's the old post office lot. The church would own 100 spaces in the newly constructed parking garage. - Author: Dave Askins - Tags: Business, #no-inline-feature ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/20/6f/206f9007-c0a7-47d4-b87b-686c21961f22/content/images/2026/09/20211-Methodist-South-Lot-Screenshot-2026-09-01-at-5.14.32---AM.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/20/6f/206f9007-c0a7-47d4-b87b-686c21961f22/content/images/2026/09/2026-Methodist-South-Lot-Screenshot-2026-09-01-at-5.13.16---AM-1.png) Both images are from the Eagleview module of Beacon, which is the platform used by Monroe County for its property and parcel information system. ****Left:** An image from 2011 which shows the old post office building still intact. ****Right:** An image from 2026 showing the familiar grassy field where Core Spaces now wants to build a 400-bed student housing complex. [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/20/6f/206f9007-c0a7-47d4-b87b-686c21961f22/content/images/2026/09/dynamic-map-Screenshot-2026-09-01-at-5.35.19---AM.png)](https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1D-NDZajniVnSkSqBOxi%5F9VfPdewI7Sk&usp=sharing) Map by the B Square showing the Methodist South Lot in relation to College Square. [\[link to dynamic map](https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1D-NDZajniVnSkSqBOxi%5F9VfPdewI7Sk&usp=sharing)\] Bloomington’s First United Methodist Church is moving toward an $8.8-million sale of its downtown South Lot to Core Spaces for a student housing development of roughly 350 to 400 bedrooms. The church’s governing board voted unanimously at an Aug. 17 open meeting to approve a letter of intent (LOI) with the Chicago-based developer, according to lead pastor Lisa Schubert Nowling. The LOI has now been signed by both parties, she wrote in response to emailed B Square questions. That sets the stage for the nuts and bolts of negotiations. According to an [Aug. 13 message](https://bloomdocs.org/wp-content/uploads/simple-file-list/2026-08-13-Methodist-South-Lot-core-Spaces-A%5FWord%5Ffrom%5FPastor%5FLisa%5Fon%5Fthe%5FSouth%5FLot.html) from Nowling to the congregation, the LOI gives the church and Core Spaces 120 days to reach agreement on a purchase contract. If they don’t, she wrote, “we all walk away.” The roughly 1.6-acre property fills the block just south of the church, bounded by 3rd and 4th streets and Lincoln and Washington streets. The church acquired the property in 1999 and demolished the former downtown post office there in 2013. Under the Core Spaces proposal, the church would receive $8.8 million and get ownership of 100 parking spaces in a garage that would be incorporated into the new development, with a separate entrance for church users. The existing surface lot has 144 spaces. At an [Aug. 9 church town hall](https://youtu.be/74KpryJTKH0?si=F3joJgfRrYtILSci), a Core Spaces representative said the project is expected to have about 350 to 400 bedrooms. The onsite units would be market-rate housing. Core Spaces says it expects to use Bloomington’s affordable-housing incentive described in the city’s Unified Development Ordinance (UDO). That means making a “payment in lieu” to the city’s housing development fund instead of including income-restricted units in the project itself. The zoning for the parcel in the city’s Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) is Mixed-Use Downtown University Village. The zoning district is “intended to serve as a dynamic and key transitional activity center that connects the courthouse square with Indiana University ...” The MD-UV zoning generally allows a three-story, 40-foot building, with Bloomington’s affordable-housing incentives potentially increasing that to five stories and 64 feet. It’s smaller for projects that meet the technical definition of “student housing or dormitory” which includes tests like whether the project has more than 10 dwelling units and more than 33% of the units have three bedrooms. That is, just because the building will be marketed to students, doesn’t mean it would be caught in the [technical definition](https://library.municode.com/in/bloomington/codes/code%5Fof%5Fordinances?nodeId=TIT20UNDEOR%5FCH20.07DE%5F20.07.010DEWO) of student housing, which would make it [ineligible for affordability incentives](https://library.municode.com/in/bloomington/codes/code%5Fof%5Fordinances?nodeId=TIT20UNDEOR%5FCH20.04DESTIN%5F20.04.110IN). ### Why the church wants to sell The proposal is attractive to the church in large part because it combines a higher purchase price than previous offers, with a solution to a problem that had stymied earlier attempts to develop the land: parking. Chris Cockerham, a commercial real estate broker, church member, and member of its South Lot Task Force, told the congregation that previous developers had been unable to come up with a project that kept enough parking. Core’s offer was different, Cockerham said. In addition to the $8.8 million, the developer would construct a parking garage as a part of the development, and the church would have condominium ownership of 100 parking spaces in the garage. Cockerham estimated the value of the parking construction at another $3 million. The church also sees the sale as a way to address a long-term financial challenge. According to the [information sheet](https://bloomdocs.org/wp-content/uploads/simple-file-list/2026-08-09-FUMC-information-sheet-South-Lot-Development-2.pdf) distributed for the town hall, the average in-person attendance at worship services is 175 to 225\. But it maintains a building and staff structure designed for a larger congregation. Church leaders also point to an aging donor base and millions of dollars in deferred building maintenance. That includes roof repairs for $1 million and masonry work estimated at $880,000. The church’s current plan is to invest the sale proceeds in its endowment. Church leaders estimate an $8.8-million investment could generate about $450,000 a year for building needs and church ministries. In the Aug. 13 message to the congregation, Nowling described the motivation for sale in broad terms: “To ensure our congregation and ministries can thrive for generations to come, we must secure outside sources of income.” The LOI is not itself a sales contract. The actual contract would require another formal approval under United Methodist denominational rules. Nowling told The B Square that due to the LOI, the church cannot currently consider an offer from another prospective purchaser. ### Development landscape Core Spaces already has a substantial Bloomington footprint, even if it’s not in the central downtown area. Its Hub Bloomington I project at 2038 N. Walnut St., on the former Great Wall restaurant site, was [approved in 2023](https://bsquarebulletin.com/8-story-student-apartment-building-on-north-walnut-okd-by-bloomington-plan-commission/) by the Bloomington plan commission with 172 apartments and 463 bedrooms. Hub Bloomington II, which was a much larger Core project, was [approved in 2024](https://bsquarebulletin.com/1-143-bedroom-student-apartment-building-okd-in-bloomingtons-student-housing-zoning-district/) for property north of 17th Street between Lincoln and Washington streets. It includes 411 apartments and 1,143 bedrooms. The Methodist South Lot is one of two whole city blocks in the downtown area that are currently the focus of development interest. In April, Bloomington’s redevelopment commission (RDC) [put its College Square property at 4th Street and College Avenue on the market](https://bsquarebulletin.com/bloomington-rdc-signs-off-on-public-offering-for-college-square-declines-30-day-pause-for-land-swap-talks/) through a formal public offering with a minimum price of $7.59 million. Two development teams ultimately submitted [competing hotel-and-housing proposals](https://bsquarebulletin.com/dora-concord-pitch-rival-college-square-projects-bloomington-rdc-mulls-decision/). The RDC’s [public offering](https://bloomdocs.org/wp-content/uploads/simple-file-list/2026-04-20-College-Square-Offering-Sheet-Bloomington-RDC-redevelopment-commission.pdf ) explicitly excluded student housing from consideration. For both proposals to the RDC, which the commission is still weighing, the proposed total price was $4 million. The $8.8 million offered by Core Spaces for the South Lot is a measure of how much more lucrative the market seems to be for student housing. Nowling told The B Square that the church did not approach prospective buyers for the South Lot. It was Core Spaces that approached the church. ### Site briefly mentioned in the jail debate Another specific possible use for the property, as the site of a new jail and justice center, was apparently never explored by either the church or Monroe County government officials. But the idea did get a mention this spring, almost in passing, as Monroe County continued its years-long search for a solution to the failing facility of its jail. Former Bloomington mayor John Hamilton included the “old post office site” on a list of possible downtown locations in a May [guest column](https://bloomdocs.org/wp-content/uploads/simple-file-list/2026-05-25-North-Park-John-Hamilton-Guest-Column-on-Proposed-Jail-2026-5.pdf) arguing against construction of a large new jail at North Park. Hamilton did not lay out a proposal to construct a jail on the Methodist property. Instead, he argued for reducing the jail population through investments in services and reconsidering the assumption that the county needed a large, one-story jail complex. As examples of possible downtown space, Hamilton wrote that the county could consider adding four stories above the county-owned Curry Building just west of the existing jail, “or the old post office site. Or the current county health building site. Or Showers West. Or plenty of other options for scattered site housing.” No such conversation ever developed around the First Methodist property. Nowling told The B Square that use of the South Lot for a jail or justice center was not discussed by the governing board, the South Lot Task Force or other church leadership. The church didn’t reach out to the Monroe County government to ask whether it might want to purchase the property. Monroe County commissioner Jody Madeira responded to emailed B Square questions saying that she was not aware of any conversations between county officials and First Methodist about corrections-related use of the South Lot. ### Jail site question remains unresolved Even if the Methodist South Lot had been a part of conversations, it likely would not have gotten much traction with county commissioners. Madeira responded to The B Square saying she does not support a multisite jail plan. The comparatively small South Lot would not accommodate the one-story jail that sheriff Ruben Marté supports, she said, or allow for eventual co-location of other justice functions. Splitting detention operations among multiple sites, Madeira said, would increase operating and staffing costs, complicate classification of prisoners and delivery of medical and mental-health services, and introduce additional development risks. “Right now, we don’t need a more complicated jail plan,” Madeira told The B Square. “We need a legally defensible, operationally coherent, buildable plan that can actually be completed.” The county’s jail problem remains unresolved. In mid-July, a subcommittee of government officials recommended [expanding into the county-owned Curry and Fiscus properties](https://bsquarebulletin.com/renovation-plus-curry-plan-edges-out-thomson-site-for-jail-panels-recommendation/) with renovation of the current justice building. That was its top choice of sites. But the subcommittee’s work was subject to the condition that its recommended site had to be inside the Bloomington city limits. That recommendation has yet to be taken up by county commissioners or the county council. The county is also again defending jail conditions in federal court. A long-running settlement stemming from a 2008 lawsuit ended this summer. On July 10, the ACLU of Indiana filed a new proposed class action against the county commissioners, county council and Marté, alleging that overcrowding and deteriorating conditions violate prisoners’ constitutional rights. The commissioners and sheriff have acknowledged in court filings that the jail is inadequate and has reached the end of its useful life, while denying that conditions violate constitutional rights. The county council has likewise called the jail outdated and inadequate while denying the central constitutional allegations. The lawsuit is in its early states with a case management plan still in the works. \[[Monroe County Jail Timeline](https://thebloomingtonchronicle.org/index.php/Monroe%5FCounty%5FJail)\] --- In any case, for the Methodist South Lot the immediate path now points clearly towards a large student housing rather than any role in resolving the jail location question.