Indiana Wesleyan to Build 3,800-seat Chapel/Auditorium

The Indiana Wesleyan University Board of Trustees has approved a 3,800-seat chapel/auditorium for IWU’s Marion campus. Construction will begin in the spring of 2008, and the building will be completed in August 2009. The project will cost about $20 million.

The chapel/auditorium will be built on the northwest corner of 44 th and Nebraska streets, which currently is the site of two one-story residence halls and two houses. The student housing that is lost by razing the current buildings will be replaced by building two new townhouses on campus.

The selection of a building site on the west side of Nebraska Street will preserve the former Center School for the foreseeable future. IWU bought the school two years ago and has used the building for classrooms and offices since September.

Center School had been considered as a site for the new chapel/auditorium, but IWU officials decided to preserve it for much-needed classroom space.

The new building will be used both as the campus chapel and will provide assembly space for large campus and community events such as graduations, conferences, lecture series, and concerts. It is the hope of IWU to host selected community events for Marion, Grant County and the region.

Currently, Luckey Arena is the largest gathering space on the IWU campus. The arena seats about 2,500 people – for graduations and campus convocations – when folding chairs are placed on the gymnasium floor.

IWU chapel services now are held in the 1,200-seat auditorium of Phillippe Performing Arts Center, which opened in 1996. Initially, the auditorium seated the entire student body in one chapel service, but two services have been held >since 1998.

Residential students on IWU’s Marion campus are required to attend chapel services, which are held three days a week during the school year. With more than 2,300 resident students, the two chapel services now are nearing capacity.

The university plans to engage in funding initiatives to aid in building this chapel/auditorium. The new facility will symbolize IWU’s commitment to its spiritual heritage and will be the most costly facility ever built on the campus.

Alan Miller is the University Relations Director at Indiana Wesleyan University.