Indianapolis Tennis Center future in limbo

The Indianapolis Tennis Center will not be demolished next spring. I repeat, the Indianapolis Tennis Center will not be demolished next spring. According to Roger Schmenner, chief of staff to IUPUI’s chancellor, the tennis facility will not be touched “for the next few years.”

So, if the ATP Tour stop there can continue to maintain itself financially, the event appears to have a home through 2012. Local tennis sources still remained skeptical about the tennis center’s near-term future despite Schmenner’s claims.

A furor erupted earlier this week when higher-ups inside the local tennis community began contacting media members and tennis followers far and wide asking them to petition IUPUI Chancellor Charles Bantz to stop the demolition.

One well-placed source inside the tennis community said the NCAA is planning to expand its headquarters on the site where the tennis center—including the 10,000-seat stadium court—now stands.

“That is absolutely untrue,” Schmenner said.
 
One thing is certain. The NCAA is planning a ground breaking next spring for a $35 million, 130,000-square-foot expansion. NCAA officials and Schmenner said it would be on White River State Park land directly west of the current NCAA headquarters, not on the tennis center site, which is about a half-mile to the northwest.

“The Indianapolis Tennis Center is not a part of what the NCAA is doing,” Schmenner said. “The future use of that site is still undetermined.”

IUPUI has determined that by 2028, the tennis center will come down, but Schmenner said IUPUI will likely find a better use for the valuable land and not farm it out or sell it off.