By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
When the BGSU Administration Building came down in 2021 to make way for a new gateway on the western edge of campus, it marked the completion of the university’s first master plan.
That plan saw major changes to campus, including the renovation of some of the oldest buildings, and the construction of the Maurer Center, the new home for the Schmidthorst College of Business and the Wolfe Center for the Arts as well a new residence halls and dining halls. That plan took 13 years to complete.
Not that the renovation ever stopped – a new home for life design opened in the McLeod Hall (formerly the Math Science Building) and Kokosing Hall opened as a home for construction management.
Now BGSU is teeing up a new vision, Campus Master Plan 2.0. Last week the university hosted two public forums to outline the plan.
[Click to view more information including videos of forums.]
April Smucker, associate vice president, planning, construction, and campus operations, said: “This road map truly will be the vision that aligns our physical plant with our university’s strategic plan.”
In the documents posted on the website, the plans connect with President Rodney Rogers’ stated intention to maintain BGSU as a residential university, and do that by making it more attractive than its competing state institutions.
The forums presented an overview, focused on the academic buildings, though touching on other potential projects.
The hope is to have the overall plan approved by trustees in May. But each project will have to be developed, including determining the cost and how it will be paid for, and approved by the trustees. Nothing here is set in concrete, or any other building material.
Thursday’s forum was attended by about 50 faculty, staff, students, and community members. The session earlier in the week had many more, Smucker said, noting that Thursday’s audience asked more questions.
Smucker said the plan could take 15 years to complete.
The plan looks to reinvigorate the buildings from the Maurer Center north to aviation, what’s called the STEM Corridor, and going east from the Maurer Center to the Fine Arts Building.
Douglas Kozma of the Smith Group, which has been working with BGSU on the plan for a year, said a thorough analysis of the campus buildings was conducted. The classroom buildings were assessed for their physical condition, their adequacy as learning spaces, and how much they’re used.
These factors all help determine their future use, he said.
No new buildings are proposed in the plan. There are additions to the Technology Building to increase space for the university’s growing engineering program. Also, the plan proposes razing the north end of Overman Hall and then adding onto the south end of the Physical Science building. That building, Kozma said, is considered the best candidate for renovation to meet current needs.
“That addition, along with renovation, becomes an interdisciplinary science hub,” he said, with space for biology, chemistry, forensic science, physics, and chemistry and “maybe a little psychology.”
Hayes Hall was also deemed in good shape, and his eyed as being the center of computer sciences.
On the other hand, the Life Science Building with its “idiosyncratic” floor plan, does not lend itself to renovation. The Psychology Building also scores poorly on all three measures. Once the programs housed in those buildings are moved, he said, it would be up to the university to determine whether to repurpose them or tear them down.
Kozma praised the university for being willing to get rid of space by tearing down buildings. In the original campus plan, in addition to the administration building, West Hall and the Consumer Science buildings on the Bowen Thompson Quad were razed.
This is a major energy saving strategy, he said.
Though not explicitly addressed in the plan, the university does still expect to tear down Memorial Hall. In discussing renovations to Eppler, Bill Ash, of the Smith Group, said the central gym could provide practice space for the gymnastics team.
And the presenters were reminded by a student that the Environmental Science program is located there.
The plan foresees major renovations to East Hall and Central Hall.
In both cases, they envision student gathering spaces. Currently those are mostly located in the Bowen-Thompson Student Union, and Jerome Library.
Christopher Chandler, vice president of graduate student senate, noted that now the gathering places for graduate students are in the areas devoted to their disciplines.
That’s typical for university campuses, Kozma said.
Chandler said they were trying to bring the graduate students across disciplines together in a community.
Smucker said these were the kind of comments the forums were meant to solicit, so they can be addressed as the projects take shape.
“Everyone would really love to renovate the entirety of library,” Ash said. The resources are not there, but the plan envisions “strategic changes.”
He said the idea would be to move the study spaces from the seventh floor down to the space on the second floor where there are now offices, and where there’s already a smaller study area.
The Fine Arts Building will get a new entrance to the south, by removing a portion of the old building that is now underutilized.
Though the talk focused on academic areas, the speakers did address Kreischer Quad. While Chief Financial Officer Sheri Stoll has told BGSU trustees that the 1966 structure is nearing the end of its useful life, she also said that despite lacking air conditioning, it is popular with athletes and arts students because of its proximity to those facilities.
Ash said it would be hard to replicate those advantages, so Kreischer would get a makeover, including air conditioning and pod-style rest rooms.
Kozma also addressed the possibility of improving Mercer Avenue on the east side of campus, to make it safer and more conducive for pedestrians, and cyclists. This is a priority for the Ohio Department of Transportation, so a partnership is possible.
A mixed use commercial and housing development with market rate housing for students on the corner of East Wooster and Mercer was identified as another possibility for a partnership.
Also, the development an intergenerational community on the northerly section of the former golf course is a possibility.
In the past, the smell from the city’s wastewater treatment plant on Dunbridge Road has been cited as a drawback in developing housing there. Smucker said that concern seems not as great now.
A student noted that environmental groups on campus have been asking for that to be saved as a natural area devoted to native plants.
There would be room, Kozma said, for both.
