By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Bowling Green State University plans to bulldoze two more structures along East Wooster Street. The buildings are far from paradise, but they will be paved over to put up parking lots.
The latest two buildings to come down are at 708 and 1124 E. Wooster St. Both will be turned into parking lots to make up for parking spaces lost for the new Maurer Center.
The total cost for demolition of the buildings and construction of the parking lots is just over $1 million. The BGSU Board of Trustees approved the proposal on Friday.
The building at 1124 E.Wooster St., across from the Greek housing area, was formerly a church that in recent years had been called the Wooster Center. It previously held Student Legal Services, which has since moved to College Park. The former sanctuary was used for rehearsals for College of Musical Arts ensembles.
The building at 708 E. Wooster St., located across from McFall Center, is a house that most recently served as home for Institutional Research. The house sits just to the west of a small parking lot that will be expanded once the building is demolished.
The new parking areas will be for commuter students, faculty and staff.
Since June of 2003, the BGSU Board of Trustees has approved granting a limited authority to the university to “opportunistically acquire real estate located near or adjacent to campus.” These are the latest two structures which have now been deemed unnecessary to support the ongoing operational needs of the university.
Both buildings were targeted for demolition because the costs to rehabilitate and address deferred maintenance needs are excessive, and because the expanded footprint of the Maurer Center has resulted in the loss of parking spots.
Sheri Stoll, BGSU’s chief financial officer, cautioned that the university lost about 40 parking spaces for the Maurer Center.
“We feel we need to increase parking spots,” Stoll said to the board. She said the expanded parking lots will actually provide 30 to 40 more spaces than the university had before.
It is expected that the parking lots will be open by spring or summer of next year. The Maurer Center is expected to be open late next summer.
The board of trustees was warned that If this project is not approved, the university will continue to maintain inefficient buildings that are no longer necessary to support the university’s academic mission and will likely experience parking shortages upon the completion of the Maurer Center.
Also at Friday’s meeting, the board approved the last phase of borrowing for the university’s campus master plan, which began in 2013. Bonds may be issued for up to $25 million to complete projects, including the Maurer Center, the continued renovation of the Slater Family Ice Arena, creating and equipping a nursing skills lab, and planning the initial development of the university east campus to possibly include a residential and commercial mixed-use development.
The bond funds may also be used for the initial phase of the long-term project to replace the campus information technology infrastructure.
