BOT notebook: Grawn Hall, library and Ronan Hall renovation updates
Renovations to Grawn Hall, Ronan Hall and Charles V. Park Library were discussed at the Finance and Facilities Board of Trustees committee meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 18 in the President’s Conference Room at Central Michigan University.
The construction of Grawn Hall will be in several phases, but the plan is to start in May 2016 and finish off in the summer of 2017, said Vice President of Facilities Management Steve Lawrence.
Lawrence and Dean of Libraries Tom Moore gave facilities updates and walked through blueprints of the major renovation projects to trustees. University Space Committee co-chair Karl Smart also discussed how the collaboration of renovations are handled on campus.
Grawn Hall
“There is a heavy concentration on collaboration space for students,” said Lawrence when he explained renovations that will be made to Grawn.
About 6,000 square feet will be added to the building which will include a two story atrium that will be able to hold about 200 people for presentations and events held by the College of Business Administration.
Other changes Grawn will see is a new café, a quiet study room, an academic advising office and upgrades on ceilings, walls, windows and heating and air.
Charles V. Park Library
“One of the things we learned from input in the Master Plan process is the area on the west side (of the library) with the window looking out to the Fabiano Botanical Garden is really a destination study area,” Moore said.
Removal of books and materials to free up study space by the windows is something being considered, Moore said. The context for planning changes of the library is the increasing scholarly material CMU now has available in digital form.
“We built a building with the capacity to hold lots of (book) collections, but we don’t need all of those anymore so we can free up space and assign that to higher priority academic functions,” he said.
The second floor of the library will turn into a service floor with guest assistance, the third floor will be focused on student academic success, and the fourth will prioritize serving faculty in teaching and research, Moore said.
He said there were plans to take out the west wall of Java City on the ground floor to make study areas on the first floor food-friendly.
“There will be no increase in square footage, we’re basically going to intensify the use of the area by bringing in some (new programs),” Moore said.
University Space Committee
“Sometimes things have been done independently at the university and a space is remodeled and changed only for another group to come along a year later (to propose another change),” Smart said.
The University Space Committee is not independent in that it has to get approval from President George Ross and his cabinet before giving approval to anyone who requests a space change or additional space or renovation on campus.
The closing of the Rose Pool, the School of Medicine wanting to relocate on campus to Foust Hall, vacated space in Brookes Hall because of the new Biosciences Building and space requested from Athletics to meet Title IX requirements were some examples Smart gave of space requests.
“It’s taken us a while to get processes in place, but I think we’re serving what is a good need for the university,” Smart said.
The University Space Committee has nine members and was formed in Fall 2014. They meet monthly to prioritize and make recommendations about space requests and concerns in the context of the 10-year master plan.
Ronan Hall
The lower level of Ronan Hall is one of the projects the space committee recommended a space consolidation of different offices that are all related to enrollment and student services, Lawrence said. Offices that will move to the lower level of Ronan Hall will include 74 staff members and nine student employees.
“All (offices) have reception and waiting and duplicate spaces they can share,” Lawrence said. “We don’t spend as much money on these kinds of spaces but it will be adequate for the people there.”
One of the offices moving to Ronan will be the Veterans Resource Center, which are located in Warriner 114.
Windows and heating systems will also be replaced in Ronan Hall, that hasn’t been updated in 62 years.
“It’s not the most comfortable building on campus, lets just put it that way, so we want to make some improvements,” he said.
The lower level of Ronan contains over 15,000 square feet that will be renovated.
The project is in the beginning phases right now, Lawrence said.
