Family-owned Crown Corr Inc. has donated to Purdue University Calumet a 7.5-acre tract of land for use in expanding the school’s intercollegiate athletics program.

The land is located one and one-half miles east of campus in Hammond’s Hessville neighborhood. The undeveloped, wooded parcel is in a residential area near 171nd Street and Kentucky Avenue.

Crown Corr, a national metal enclosure contractor, is owned and operated by Richard Pellar and his sister, Jolaine (Pellar) Boudart. Their late father, Joseph Pellar, founded the company. The land site has been designated Pellar Park.

Plans call for the land to be developed into a Purdue Calumet outdoor athletics complex suitable for intercollegiate competition. While no decision has been made as to how the land will be developed, Purdue Calumet has prepared a plan to expand its intercollegiate athletics program from the current two teams (men’s and women’s basketball) to 12 teams over the next five years.

“Until the Pellars provided this gift, all we had was a dream,” Purdue Calumet Assistant Vice Chancellor for Health, Recreation and Sports/Athletics Director Robert Bunnell said. “This jump starts what promises to be an ambitious and exciting chapter in the history of Purdue Calumet athletics. I offer thanks to Rich and Jolaine for sharing in our vision. As business people and parents of student-athletes, they understand the value a practical athletics program can bring to a comprehensive educational environment. I also am grateful for the role former Purdue Calumet Athletics Director John Friend played through his relationship with the Pellar family.”

Purdue Calumet’s athletics expansion plan, developed by Bunnell and approved by the university’s senior administration, includes fielding teams in men’s and women’s soccer, men’s baseball and women’s softball. There is insufficient campus land for developing playing fields for those sports. Other intercollegiate sports teams in the offing are women’s volleyball, men’s golf, men’s and women’s tennis, and men’s and women’s cross country.

Purdue Calumet is exploring the possibility of introducing women’s volleyball, men’s golf, and men’s and women’s tennis teams for the 2010-11 sports season.

“We are extremely pleased and appreciative of the generous gift Rich and Joli, through their family-owned company, have made to Purdue Calumet,” University Vice Chancellor for Advancement Judith Kaufman said. “The land provides an essential component for turning into reality an exciting plan of attracting committed student-athletes to Purdue Calumet.”

All athletics expansion planning is subject to the availability of adequate funding.