Monroe Convention Center expansion moves ahead with final design, election ops sees last votes
Last Wednesday (Oct. 23), the final project definition (aka schematic design) for the expansion of the Monroe Convention Center was approved unanimously by the Monroe County capital improvement board (CIB).
The CIB’s approval will allow the architect, Schmidt Associates, to begin the actual design phase of the project.
The project will put a roughly 60,000-square foot building on the south side of 3rd Street between Walnut Street, across from the Bloomington Transit bus center, and College Avenue, across from the existing 40,000-square foot convention center.
The project architect is Schmidt Associates, with consulting support from Convergence Design. The construction manager on the job is Weddle Brothers.
CIB board president John Whikehart commented at the meeting after the unanimous vote: “Thank you to all of our partners,” adding, “You’ve done a really good job so far, so keep hanging in there with us.”
The final design is expected to be finished by February 2025, with construction documents done by July 2025. The bid packages will be put out between March and August of 2025, with construction to start around June 2025. The expansion is expected to be complete by early 2027. The renovations to the existing facility are supposed to be done by the middle of that year.
The land where the expansion is surface parking, except for the Monroe County election operations building (aka the old NAPA Auto Parts building). The Nov. 5 election will almost certainly be the last one for the building, which has served as the location for early in-person voting in the county since the start of 2022.
The velocity of voters through the building during the early voting period over the last few days has been around 170 voters per hour. The future location of early voting for the 2026 election cycle has not yet been addressed. No elections are scheduled in 2025.
David Greusel with Convergence Design, which is consulting with architect Schmidt Associates on the project, reviewed the basics of the project for the CIB. The size of the expansion is 60,000 square feet, bringing the facility’s total to just over 100,000 square feet.
The addition includes about 30,000 square feet of rentable space, with 29,786 square feet dedicated to a large, flexible ballroom/exhibit area. The remaining rentable space consists of breakout rooms on an upper level, which will allow the facility to host more than one event at the same time.
Key features of the expansion include a bridge connector between buildings, over College Avenue, which is supposed to tie the spaces together functionally. The bridge has been the subject of some controversy, which is attested in the label used by opponents of the design element: They call it a “gerbil tube.”
The bridge connector has been “put on a diet,” Greusel said, with a total footprint that now comes to 2,282 square feet.. The expansion building also includes a rooftop garden for stormwater management.
The exterior design includes a wall of windows along 3rd Street with a big central limestone pier. About the limestone element in the of the middle building, Greusal said, “There’s kind of an opportunity here for art, or a big advertising banner that would be temporary for a particular event.”
The design features prominent public entrances at 3rd and College, as well as 3rd and Walnut.
Lisa Gomperts with Schmidt Associates and Chris Cioli, with Weddle Brothers, reviewed some of the more technical details, including the renovations to the existing building that are planned.
Gomperts said three HVAC systems had been evaluated, focusing on initial cost, efficiency, and long-term maintenance. The chosen option is the most expensive, but was selected for its efficiency. Both the heating and cooling systems feature more than one outdoor air-to-water heat pump. The heating system includes an electric backup boiler.
The HVAC system is supposed to help the project achieve its LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver target.
Cioli said that a priority for the renovation of the existing building is a window replacement project with a price tag of $1,652,000.
Before the 1923 brick building was converted into the convention center facility in 1990, it was the home of Tom O’Daniel Ford and Graham Motor Sales.
Cioli said that all the design elements and the renovation projects would fit into the $52 million construction budget.
