VOLUME 11, NO. 3     FEBRUARY 1998

Campus center update

Editor's note: This is an update on the status of the campus center, reported in previous issues of The Wire.

Earlier actions by the Board of Trustees at its Jan. 21, 1997 meeting authorized the administration to proceed with the design phase of the campus center. The Physical Facilities Committee solicited a request for qualification from 19 architectural firms and interviewed three at its meeting in June; it selected Shepley, Bulfinch, Richardson and Abbott for the purpose of proceeding with the design of the campus center.

At its Oct. 17 meeting, the Board of Trustees discussed the background and policy on capital projects prior to voting on a campus center resolution. Some highlights:

• According to long-standing practice, capital projects are only initiated after 90 percent of the funding is either in place or committed.

• The philanthropic funding for the campus center will come through the capital campaign. THere is, at present, approximately $4 million of philanthropic funding and $5.65 million of debt financing designated for the campus center.

• Earlier estimates of $16.5 million for the construction of the campus center have risen to over $25 million.

• This major project should be constructed in phases that would include a campus center phase, a recreation phase, and a pool phase.

• Siting of the campus center will still be adjacent to Alumni Gymnasium and Harrington Auditorium.

The trustees voted the following resolution:

... that the Board of Trustees votes to initiate the groundbreaking for at least the first phase of the campus center project - the new construction for the campus center phase - on or before Oct. 31, 1999, contingent upon 90 percent of the funding for that phase being in place and with the goal that the combined project of several phases be completed as soon thereafter as is practical and possible.

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