MUNCIE — Dozens of people got their first real look Tuesday evening at an ambitious proposal to develop a 10-acre park in downtown Muncie.
Community leader Tom Bracken detailed his proposal for Muncie Central Park, a four-plus-blocks-long greenspace that, he said, would draw people to Muncie.
Bracken held his presentation at Cornerstone Center for the Arts, the former Masonic Temple downtown that is adjacent to, and overlooks, a major building that would be torn down if the $47-million Muncie Central Park were built: the former Midwest Towel/Cintas industrial laundry.
To accomplish that, however, Bracken would have to stop in their tracks plans that are already underway — and backed by Mayor Dennis Tyler — to turn the Cintas building into GearBox, a makers hub that could include a brewery, restaurant and shops that would sell goods created by artists and artisans.
Bracken emphasized that he supports the idea of a makers hub — just not in the Cintas building, which is owned by non-profit Sustainable Muncie. The building is an eyesore, Bracken said, and cannot be transformed for the $1 million estimated for the GearBox project so far.
"One of Muncie's biggest problems is that it doesn't make a good first impression," Bracken said, emphasizing that 10 acres of park land that would encompass the area now occupied by Cintas, a few commercial and residential buildings and some parking lots, would draw people to Muncie.