Audrey Pantaz
Contributing Writer
Wooster students returning from winter break last week will have noticed a glaring difference in the landscape lining Beall Avenue. The residential quad, once bordered by tennis courts, is now edged with a temporary, fenced-in parking lot built atop the now retired courts. This change was announced in a Dec. 5 email to the student body from Beau Mastrine, director of facilities budget and project administration.
The temporary parking lot is for use by students with North parking permits only; it was created due to the renovation of Douglass Hall and subsequent closure of parking lot 11. In Mastrine’s announcement, he outlined that all vehicles should be moved out of lot 11, which will need to “remain closed for the duration of the Douglass renovation project.”
“It would be nice if [the parking lot] was open in conjunction with all the other spots. All they’ve done is move the problem across the street and you have to walk around the fence to get in,” explains Ainsley Phillips ’25, a North parking permit holder. While the temporary lot provides the same number of parking spots as lost from lot 11, some students feel that there is a need for additional parking on campus. Parking passes for the North side of campus are currently sold out for the 2023-24 school year. While the repurposed tennis courts are functional, the lot is only temporary. When asked about future plans for the space, Mastrine said that following the Douglass renovation, the tennis courts “will be removed and turned back to green space.”
The ongoing renovation of Douglass Hall began in fall 2023. In September, residents of Douglass Hall received a flurry of emails from the Office of Residence Life that offered them the opportunity to move to alternate housing options, including two residential homes that were put back “online” to accommodate the number of students moving from dorm to dorm.
This change came at the request of President Anne McCall as part of her continuing plan to update buildings around the Wooster campus. The building was officially closed in mid October, with all students still residing in the building moved to various residence halls and houses across campus.
At the time of publication, Douglass is projected to reopen in time for the 2025-26 school year. The project is still in its beginning stages, said Mastrine; “currently we have contractors working on the abatement and demo portion of the project,” he said
While construction begins, the residential life team is working to include student input in the plans for the new building. In early November 2023, Johnathon Reynolds, director of residence life, sent a survey through email to the Wooster student body in which students were asked for suggestions for the Douglass construction project.
According to Mastrine, the survey received 158 responses. In order to further take student input into account, two Q&A sessions took place between students and the construction team, and a student committee was formed to partake in project meetings.
The renovation of Douglass Hall is a year and a half from being finished, and the future use of the building is still uncertain. Abby Righter, assistant director of housing operations, shared that the renovated Douglass Hall will be “primarily a first-year building but also house upperclassmen based on what is needed each year.”
The sound of construction around campus will likely be commonplace in the coming years as President McCall enacts plans for future renovations to Wooster buildings. Her goal: a safe and modernized Wooster campus centered around student experience.
