Public Station Buys 94,000-SF Office Building

Vectren Energy had used the building as its headquarters, after it had taken over the Indiana Gas company. Now, WFYI will occupy the first two floors of the building, about 60,000 sf, says Matt Langfeldt with NAI Olympia Partners. He and Gus Miller represented Terra in the deal, and Chuck Cagaan with Mansur Real Estate Services represented the station.

Langfeldt says that the station is going to lease out the other office space in the four-story building. "I think they're goal is to identify users with synergies that can fit with them," he tells GlobeSt.com. He says he doesn't know what the asking lease rates will be, but that the average asking office rate in the area is $17-$17.50 per sf.

"It's definitely a class A building," Langfeldt says. He says the first two floors of the property are large compared to the rest of the building, which was added to in 1989. "The local office market is pretty stable, it matches the rest of the Midwest, which isn't having much ups or downs," Langfeldt says.

Station officials say they outgrew their current home in the 1400 block of North Meridian nearly a decade ago, forcing the public broadcaster to allocate space for its radio station, communications department and marketing division in an adjacent building (also owned by WFYI) just north of its main facility. With the acquisition of Vectren's former headquarters as part of a $15.3 million capital campaign, the station will be able to unite its 89 member staff and numerous public broadcasting services under one roof. In addition to serving as Indianapolis' home for PBS and NPR programming, WFYI is a catalyst for lifelong learning opportunities, a full-service broadcast production facility and a provider of statewide reading services for Indiana's print-impaired citizens.

The station has retained Shiel Sexton and Ratio Architects to design and construct two television studios at its new home. The studios will be designed for high-definition broadcasts and program productions, enabling the station to complete the final stages of its transition into digital television, says company officials. The new facility will also house radio studios for FM 90.1 (NPR) and IRIS — WFYI's free statewide reading service for Indiana's print-impaired citizens.