CHESTERTON — After an open house that the state hosted Monday, two environmental groups say they feel more strongly that they need to stop private developers from building a conference/banquet center next to the historic beach pavilion at Indiana Dunes State Park.
But the developers, Pavilion Partners LLC, gained a lot of feedback that will help to tailor designs for the new building, said spokesperson Deb Butterfield.
Preliminary designs for the new building — along with restoration of the limestone pavilion, built in 1929-30 — were unveiled at Monday’s open house, which drew perhaps a couple hundred people to the Indiana Dunes Visitor Center.
Pavilion Partners has signed a contract to invest $3 million to $4 million in both building projects, along with a smaller, one-story building for bathrooms and showers.
The project's architect, Scott Virtue of Porter, said he agreed with several comments about an artist's rendering of the new building: that it looks too boxy, that the proportions aren't quite right and that the third floor's exterior looks too dark. Virtue emphasized that the drawing is preliminary. He said he'd like to see lighter-colored materials on the third floor, and he'd like to continue the pattern of arches that now frames the old pavilion's windows.
Virtue said the new building's design is restricted by certain guidelines as he works with the state's historic preservation architect. For example, he said, while the new building will use limestone and brick, as with the old pavilion, the two structurescannot look so similar that visitors would think they were built together.That, he said, is so that people will always be able to see the pavilion's historic character.
The two buildings would be just a few feet apart. The new one was originally going to match the height of the pavilion: two stories. But, to preserve views of the beach, the ground level was made to be open air, with a view of the lake that would only be obstructed byan elevator and supporting columns. That caused the new building to jut an extra story higher,linked via an enclosed walkway on the second floor.