Eastern Star Church is looking to purchase the Martin University campus on the east side, according to two people familiar with the plans.
Church leaders announced the plans in a members-only meeting March 29, following Palm Sunday services, Mirror Indy learned. The Rev. Anthony Murdock, who is the executive pastor, asked church members to stay for a meeting to discuss “a special acquisition” related to the church’s ROCK Initiative, a community development project in the Arlington Woods neighborhood on the east side.
Eastern Church representatives, including Murdock and the Rev. Jeffrey Johnson II, who is the senior pastor, could not be reached for comment prior to the publication of this story. The university did not respond to Mirror Indy’s request for comment on the sale.
That March 29 meeting was not live streamed. But in that gathering, one member said, church leaders discussed plans to purchase Martin and showed a rendering of what the campus could look like if purchased and repurposed as part of the initiative.
Church leaders did not share explicit details of their plans in the meeting. The ROCK Initiative previously opened a community center on Eastern Star’s 30th Street campus and developed commercial space and affordable housing on the east side.
Church leaders also told members, should the sale go through, that they’re committed to keeping a founder’s room at Martin to honor the university’s history.
Following the information session, church members voted in favor of continuing the purchase process, Mirror Indy learned.
Rich Forslund, an executive vice president with Colliers, the real estate agency that listed the property, told Mirror Indy in an email that the Martin University property had not yet been sold and did not respond to questions about Eastern Star’s involvement.
The Martin campus was listed for sale earlier this year for $3.5 million. The listing includes the university’s campus and parking lots as well as nine smaller lots adjacent to the college.
After Martin University closed in December, Martin’s board of trustees published a letter in the Indianapolis Recorder saying that the college was closed and they planned to start selling off assets.
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Claire Rafford covers higher education for Mirror Indy in partnership with Open Campus. Contact Claire by email claire.rafford@mirrorindy.org, on most social media @clairerafford or on Signal 317-759-0429.