"The Simon family's remarkable vision will enable Indiana University to significantly enhance basic research on our Bloomington campus. The collaborative research facilitated by the Simons' generosity will dramatically distinguish our work in the life sciences and advance our pursuit of new knowledge," said IU President Adam W. Herbert.
The gift is from Melvin and Bren Simon, Herbert and Bui Simon, David E. and Jackie Simon, Deborah J. Simon, and Cynthia Simon Skjodt and Paul Skjodt. Melvin Simon and Herbert Simon are the co-chairmen and David Simon is the chief executive officer of Simon Property Group Inc., a Standard & Poor's 500 company. Simon Property Group is a real estate investment trust that owns and manages income-producing properties, primarily regional malls and community shopping centers throughout the country.
"Indiana has been our family's home for more than 40 years, and we are pleased to play a major role in furthering scientific excellence and research capabilities in our state through construction of this new building on the Indiana University campus in Bloomington," said David E. Simon on behalf of the Simon family members.
Construction of the $55.7 million research building that has been known as the Multidisciplinary Science Building Phase I (MSB I) will begin with a June 3 ceremonial groundbreaking at its future site north of Myers Hall. Construction is expected to be completed in 2007. The building will house researchers in chemistry, biology, psychology and physics.
"Through the Simon family's generosity, Simon Hall will become the reality the College needs it to be, a cutting edge multidisciplinary facility," said IUB College of Arts and Sciences Dean Kumble R. Subbaswamy. "This building will be a unifying hub for fundamental research in sciences, and discoveries there will provide the basis for new applied clinical research at the School of Medicine."
The College's basic science departments, such as chemistry, biology and physics, are fundamental components of the life sciences research arsenal in central Indiana. Basic research, combined with health and clinical work that occurs at such locations as the IU School of Medicine, provides the engine for the life sciences initiative promoted by BioCrossroads, central Indiana's life sciences network.
The new building will provide much-needed laboratory space for the Linda and Jack Gill Center for Biomolecular Measurement as well as for proteomics, biochemistry and other research spanning multiple scientific fields. Simon Hall, which also will house the Johnson Center for Science and Entrepreneurship, is the first science-only building constructed on IU Bloomington's space-constrained campus since the completion of the Geological Sciences Building in 1962.
Members of the family previously have made the naming gifts for the Helene G. Simon Hillel Center and the Bess Meshulam Simon Music Library and Recital Center on the Bloomington campus. Several members of the family have degrees from IU, and all have close ties to the university.
Simon Hall was designed by John Belle of the New York City-based architecture firm Beyer Blinder Belle, which helped renovate Grand Central Station and Ellis Island and was tasked with redesigning the World Trade Center site. In accordance with IU's long-term goal of preserving the beauty and open space of the campus, Belle's design has a small footprint and will only minimally disrupt the wooded areas near Ballantine Hall and southeast of the Chemistry Building.
Two additional science buildings are planned for sites just north of 10th Street, near the Geological Sciences building.
To speak with Indiana University administrators and faculty, contact David Bricker at 812-856-9035 or brickerd@indiana.edu.