The future of Center for Visual and Performing Arts in Munster is up in the air as the School Town of Munster starts the process to purchase the property Monday night.
In an email the Post-Tribune obtained dated March 10, Munster Town Councilman Chuck Gardiner discussed with the rest of the Town Council a resolution the School Town placed on its March 11 meeting agenda to purchase the CVPA. In the email, he wrote STM is looking to “move their administration center to this site” to 1040 Ridge Rd.
According to an agenda posted on the school district’s website, the Board of Trustees is scheduled to take an initial vote on the resolution to purchase the Center at its 6 p.m. Monday meeting at the STM Administration Building, located at 8616 Columbia Ave.
Purchasing the CVPA — which is valued at $10.7 million, according to its 2023 Lake County assessment — would also allow STM to “create a preschool program if the need or the state requires them to administer preschool,” Gardiner said.
It’s unclear how the district would finance any purchase and property upgrades as Indiana law requires school districts to bring any bond issues larger than $10 million before the voters in a referendum. Munster recently renewed a general fund referendum in May 2023 — most of which goes toward salaries. STM Superintendent Bret Heller did not return a request for comment by press time.
Gardiner said in his email that he and Munster Clerk-Treasurer Wendy Mis had preliminary discussions with the Community Foundation of Northwest Indiana — a subsidiary of Powers Health — about the town purchasing the property, but since the discussions took place in the latter part of 2023, the two felt larger conversations about it should wait until the new council was seated in 2024. Nevertheless, he said the CVPA under the town’s umbrella could expand upon the center’s arts and theater programs as well as create a program for seniors and offer meeting space and conference space to Munster residents.
Completed in 1989, the 72,660 square-foot Centre for Visual and Performing Art was built by the Community Foundation, founded by the Donald Powers family. The CVPA sits on the site of the former James F. Lanier Elementary School, which was founded as the Munster School in 1913, according to the Munster Historical Society. The CVPA currently houses the Theater at the Centre, rehearsal and office space for the Northwest Indiana Symphony, an art gallery and the South Shore Arts program as well as Trama Catering.
Gardiner on Monday confirmed to the Post-Tribune that they’d talked with CFNI and the schools and said the town would like to work with STM should they buy the property.
“There’s a lot of history with the arts and theater — iconic things that have been built up for Munster, and we’d like to keep those things here,” Gardiner said. “We’ve talked with both groups, and we have a good history of working together, so while we don’t want to hold (STM) back, we want to be good partners and do whatever we can do to keep those programs into the future.”
Don Fesko, who is CNFI COO, Powers Health CEO and Powers’ grandson, did not respond to a request for comment.
While there is no firm date for closing the Centre, Gardiner said in the email it’s possible that the facility could close as early as July.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
