Terre Haute House - After 35 Years, Is The Story Finally Over?

After 35 Years, Is The Story Finally Over?

In September 2005, the Terre Haute Tribune-Star newspaper reported that an agreement had been reached between a new local limited liability corporation, Seventh & Wabash, LLC, and Terre Haute Realty Corporation (the Hulman family's real-estate holding company, which managed the Terre Haute House and several of the family's other properties). Seventh & Wabash, owned by local businessman Greg Gibson, would purchase the Terre Haute House, the Bement-Rea Building and the former Fort Harrison Savings & Loan (the buildings were all on the same block). No sale price was immediately announced, leading some to wonder how much the Hulman family stood to make from the deal.

Rumors began to swirl following the sale announcement that all three buildings would be demolished; this news did not encourage local residents who had hoped to someday see the hotel and neighboring buildings returned to their former splendor. Fred Nation, a spokesman for the Hulman family, initially denied reports that the Terre Haute House would be demolished. That was the family's official line when news of the impending sale first broke, but it soon became obvious that the end was near.

Dennis Trucking and Excavation, a company also owned by Gibson, began removing asbestos and other hazardous materials from the site in mid-September 2005. Permit applications filed with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) indicated that the removal was "to facilitate demolition". So much for the denials!

On September 15, Gibson told the Tribune-Star in an interview that the language of the IDEM permit application was correct. The Terre Haute House was going to be coming down — and quickly. "We think we can get the demolition done in about 120 days," Gibson told the newspaper. "It's a very aggressive demolition schedule."

The question of the sale price of the property was finally answered when the Tribune-Star reported in its September 29, 2005, edition that the three buildings were sold by Terre Haute Realty Corp. to Seventh & Wabash for $1, but, according to filings with the Vigo County auditor, in the end it was the Hulmans who paid Gibson — rather than the other way around — in the form of a "development fee", just to take the property off their hands. The amount of this fee was not stated and, given the Hulman heirs' penchant for privacy in their business dealings, it may never be revealed publicly. Nation, once again speaking for the Hulman family, would say only that "clearly the property sold has a negative value and the sale terms reflect that."

As Gibson and the Hulmans hashed out the details of their deal, Terre Haute developer John Bischoff (who had worked to raise funds to restore the building, beginning in 2001 after signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the city and Hulman interests and whose "Haute Maison" group had submitted one of the most recent proposals for the site after the city had obtained its purchase option) protested the asbestos removal, calling it unsafe for those in the area around the hotel site. Bischoff was quoted by the Tribune-Star as saying that he and others who were interested in saving the Terre Haute House "(would) make it as painful as possible" for Gibson and, when asked if that could include lawsuits, he replied, "Yes, whatever we can do."

Bischoff and his group did not get the chance to file a lawsuit prior to commencement of demolition. Bischoff did, though, file a Tort Claim Notice with the City of Terre Haute, dated December 15, 2005, a filing required under Indiana law to allow him to pursue litigation against the city in the future. In the present of the winter of 2005, however, demolition began almost immediately after the ink dried on the contracts.