By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
The Slater Family Ice Arena will receive a $5,750,000 facelift.
The BGSU Board of Trustees unanimously approved the project Friday (2/24/23).
In presenting the proposal, Chief Financial Officer Sheri Stoll said that donations are already on hand to cover over half the cost.
According to the information presented to trustees, $3,725,000 has already been donated. Stoll said she hoped the announcement of the renovations will spur further donations. This would offset the $1,867,000 planned to come from the university’s deferred maintenance reserves.
Renovations on the arena, built in 1967, began in 2008. This came after an administrative proposal to end the hockey program that sparked a backlash and fundraising campaign.
The arena was renamed in 2016 after a major donation.
[RELATED: BGSU trustees to vote on naming ice arena for Slater family]
The project will create a new mezzanine on the south end of the main rink. That mezzanine will include private suites, concessions, and additional club-level spectator seating. The main entrance will be expanded to add space for an elevator to reach the mezzanine effort. Also, Stoll said: “We’re going to provide dedicated space to showcase trophies and memorabilia honor past achievements.”
The arena’s locker rooms and rest rooms will also be upgraded, and other basic systems will be improved.
Given the extensive use of the facility by university and community programs, completing the project will be completed in two phases. The work will begin in late spring and continue through the summer. Then work will be suspended until late spring 2024 with the project slated for completion for the opening of the 2024-2025 hockey season.
The trustees also approved the plan to upgrade the Information Technology infrastructure that runs throughout campus. Stoll said that the equipment installed in the last upgrade completed in 2000 is now at the end of life. Planning for that project began in 1995.
The project will touch every corner of campus. The background information submitted to the trustees said: “Everything we do today on our campuses requires connectivity, creating twenty-four/seven demands for network access, and each year we increase our network traffic by seventeen percent.”
The project will be done is five phases and take from six to ten years to complete. Stoll cautioned whenever work requires digging and opening up the tunnels that run underneath the campus, tends to take longer than anticipated.
The estimated price tag is $59 million, but since the work will go along with other renovation and demolition projects that cost is likely to be less.
The trustees approval was for the overall plan. They will still need to approve funding for individual phases.
The trustees also approved $2.5 million to renovate the 11th floor of Offenhauer West Tower.
Since the building opened in 1969 the floor housed the Hiroko Nakamota Room for Japanese Students. The room was intended to be used by student groups associated with the Asian Studies program and was used mostly by the Japanese Club. The Nakamota room will occupy a space to University Hall in proximity to the International Student Service Office.
The space in Offenhauer will be converted into single and double rooms that to accommodate 40 students. This will take some pressure off the need for beds in Kreischer when first McDonald and then Kohl are closed to install air conditioning.
[RELATED: BGSU trustees approve $18 million to install air conditioning in McDonald & Kohl]
The work in Offenhauer will begin in late spring and is expected to be completed by the beginning of the fall semester.
