Stephen Lumetta
News Editor
Doug Laditka, associate vice president for facilities management and development, presented a plan earlier this week for future building renovations and replacement on campus. Laditka gave three presentations on Monday and Tuesday. During the presentations, he explained the history of facilities master plans at the College and the current plan, which is subject to change.
Laditka said that the College has been good at creating master plans but has not always succeeded at completely implementing those plans. For example, among the projects that the 1999-2000 master plan called for was renovating and expanding the Lowry Center, which was originally built for 1,400 students. The College now has just over 2,000 students.
The current plan has been compiled with the help of campus community input and professional input. The Trustees, the now-defunct Financial Advisory Committee (replaced by the Strategic Planning and Priorities Advisory Committee) and the Buildings and Grounds Committee have all been working together to map out priorities.
Besides the replacement of Mateer Hall, Stevenson Hall is the first planned major renovation. Stevenson Hall, Armington Hall and Andrews Hall will all undergo major renovations (in that order), at the rate of one per year. The three residence halls are all similar in terms of capacity, which will make planning for the three years easier. Additionally, all three residence halls will probably have air-conditioning, which will require the construction of a chilled water plant near the three residence halls.
The Physical Education Center (PEC) will also need to be renovated soon, according to Laditka. The gym floor in the PEC has almost reached the end of its life, and the bleachers in the PEC are not ADA compliant, nor are they easy to expand or push in.
From 2019 to 2021, the Lowry Center is expected to undergo major renovations. Not only is it made for fewer than 2,000 students, it is also a maintenance “nightmare,” according to Laditka.
Sometime between 2020 and 2022, a new 150-bed residence hall should be constructed. In addition, the College will try to reduce the number of its houses and replace some of them with commercially-constructed townhouses. While Laditka stressed that nothing is set for sure, he cited the houses on Spink Street, East University Street and north Beall Avenue as some of the less desirable of the College’s houses.
The plan also calls for various major renovations to academic buildings in the third decade of the century. Additionally, “keep-up” projects to continue maintenance of existing infrastructure are expected.
Laditka said he expects to continue to solicit ideas from the campus community. As might be expected, these projects are expensive, and ensuring that the College has enough money for the projects is an issue. Additonally, Laditka said these plans could change.