AP Development LLC has received Indiana Landmarks’ 2026 Cook Cup for Outstanding Restoration for its $13 million transformation of Crawfordsville’s former Ben-Hur Building into apartments and meeting space, a project that revived one of the city’s most prominent downtown landmarks.

“The support from the community from the beginning has been incredible. Everyone was eager for this landmark to be redeveloped,” says Jonathan Anderson, President of AP Development LLC. “Throughout the process of restoring the Ben-Hur, everyone had a story about the building and their connections to it. That made it all the more important to save the building and give it new life.”

The Ben-Hur Building dates to the early 1900s, when the fraternal benefit organization Tribe of Ben-Hur—founded in Crawfordsville and inspired by Gen. Lew Wallace’s bestselling novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ—commissioned a new headquarters to reflect its national prominence. Designed by Herbert L. Bass & Co. of Indianapolis, the building opened in 1911 at Main and Water streets. Over the decades, it served as a hub of civic and commercial activity, housing offices, meeting rooms, retail space, and the organization’s headquarters. A 1940 renovation replaced the original white tile façade with black marble panels. By 2006, the building had fallen vacant, and multiple redevelopment efforts failed to move forward.

By 2021, nearly two decades of vacancy had left the building in severe disrepair, with extensive water damage from a failing roof and deterioration throughout the once-grand lobby and interior spaces. AP Development LLC began a comprehensive restoration that preserved historic features while adapting the building for modern use. Completed in June 2025, the project restored key elements including the original corridors, lobby, façade, and hardwood floors, while upgrading all major systems and adding a new accessible entrance.

Craftsmen carefully restored the 1911/1940 lobby, including its staircase, lunch counter, revolving door, and elevator, and replicated missing historic elements based on original designs. The project introduced 49 modern apartments and repurposed the historic boardroom as a short-term rental.

At its 2025 reopening, the Ben-Hur Building welcomed more than 1,000 visitors, signaling strong community enthusiasm for the project. The redevelopment also brought new life to downtown by adding residents who have increased foot traffic to nearby shops and restaurants and supported the city’s broader goal of creating a more vibrant, walkable urban core.

The project aligned closely with Crawfordsville’s Stellar Communities initiative launched in 2014, reinforcing long-term investment in downtown. The preservation-driven transformation, supported by city and county leadership and state and federal tax credits, reflected a shared commitment to revitalization and the power of public-private collaboration.

“Few projects in recent memory have so completely transformed our community—physically, economically, and socially—as the revitalization of this long-neglected landmark,” says Crawfordsville Mayor Todd Barton. “The Ben-Hur Building stands as a model of what can be achieved when vision, craftsmanship, and civic partnership come together. It demonstrates that historic preservation is not simply about saving buildings, it is about restoring identity, fostering community, and creating opportunity.”

“The transformation of the Ben-Hur Building is exactly the kind of project the Cook Cup is meant to recognize,” says Brad Ward, president of Indiana Landmarks. “This restoration didn’t just save an architecturally significant building, it reactivated a cornerstone of downtown Crawfordsville. It’s a powerful example of how historic preservation can drive meaningful revitalization.”

Each year, Indiana Landmarks awards the Cook Cup to a property owner whose work reflects the highest standards of restoration while creating a positive impact on the surrounding neighborhood or community. The award was established in 2007 and named for the Cook family in honor of its transformation of the West Baden and French Lick Springs hotels in southern Indiana. The family is nationally recognized for restoring significant landmarks throughout the state.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Mindi Woolman, VP Marketing & Communications, Indiana Landmarks, 317-639-4534, mwoolman@indianalandmarks.org

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Indiana Landmarks revitalizes communities, strengthens connections to our diverse heritage, and saves meaningful places. With nine offices located throughout the state, Indiana Landmarks helps people rescue endangered landmarks and restore historic neighborhoods and downtowns. People who join Indiana Landmarks receive its bimonthly magazine, Indiana Preservation. For more information on the not-for-profit organization, call 317-639-4534, 800-450-4534, or visit www.indianalandmarks.org.

AP Development LLC partners builds a shared vision with communities to transform vacant historic buildings, industrial properties and brownfields into vibrant community assets while connecting those properties to their past significance and vibrancy. For more information on APD, call 317-294-4905 or visit www.APDevelopmentLLC.com.