Purdue breaks ground on 15-story Indianapolis campus building

Driving the news: Construction on the 15-story, 248,000-square-foot mixed-use academic and residential facility will start this month at Michigan and West streets with completion expected in May 2027.

• The university recently acquired a nearby building at West Street and Indiana Avenue to help with near-term space needs while the academic success building is under construction.

Catch up quick: Purdue and IU went their separate ways last year, retiring their joint IUPUI campus and each establishing its own identity in the Circle City.

• IU Indy is the larger of the two, taking over much of the legacy campus, students and academic programming.
• Purdue is still building out its presence in Indy, treating it as an extension of its flagship campus in West Lafayette, rather than a regional outpost.

The intrigue: Purdue is making major investments at a time when the higher education world at large has been thrown into chaos by the Trump administration's policies about DEI, Title IX, antisemitism, immigration and more — many of which have included threats to cut funding.

• Purdue president Mung Chiang told Axios he isn't worried.
• "Purdue is what I call serene, sturdy and strategic," he said.