Purdue University breaks ground on new Academic Success Building

Purdue University officially broke ground on its new Academic Success Building on April 2, 2025. The building will be located at the corner of Michigan and West streets in Indianapolis and will provide housing, dining, academic classrooms, and community space. The building is expected to be complete in May 2027.

According to an article on Purdue University’s website, the university’s president Mung Chiang was quoted as saying, “Today we are writing history together. Today is a day of appreciation: to the leaders of our state and the business and civic communities. Today is a day of commitment: Boilermakers bringing the totality of Purdue to the totality of Indianapolis. Today is a day of stability and growth, as Purdue advances excellence at scale with affordability; co-creates jobs, workforce and innovation; and builds out America’s Hard-Tech Corridor between Indianapolis and West Lafayette.”

Purdue University is continuing to expand its physical presence in downtown Indianapolis with the construction of the new Academic Success Building. In 2022, it was announced that the former Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis was going to separate into two separate institutions, and Purdue University in Indianapolis launched in July 2024. The Academic Success Building will be joining other Purdue University in Indianapolis sites including Purdue Motorsports and the Ray Ewry Sports Engineering Center, the Accessible Precision Audiology Research Center and Manufacturing and Materials Research Laboratories, Mitch Daniels School of Business Executive Education programs at High Alpha, and the forthcoming One Health Innovation District.

The new Academic Success Building will serve many purposes. At 248,000 square feet and 15 stories high, it will provide housing, dining, classrooms, and laboratories, and will also be available for local schools and the community to access. It is planned to share similar physical characteristics like the main Purdue University campus.

Gary Lehman, the chairman of Purdue’s Board of Trustees, said, “The building is going to change the landscape not only because of the appearance, but it is going to be a testimony to the state of Indiana and what it represents: It is a towering example of how innovative education should be done today. It will be the heartbeat for the Purdue presence in Indianapolis.”

For more information about Purdue University, visit the school’s website.