DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
The transformation of the former Hanna Hall into the Robert and Patricia Maurer Center, the new home for the College of Business, took a large step forward when the Bowling Green State University trustees approved the final funding for the $44.5 million project.
The project involves extensively renovating the 1921 building and constructing an addition on the eastern face more than doubling its size.
Architectural rendering of interior of Maurer Center (image provided by BGSU)
Trustees also approved the naming of a variety of spaces within the building for private donors, whose funds are a linchpin of the financing of the building.
Trustees approved $37,327,420. The trustees had already approved the balance of the funding.
Sheri Stoll, the university’s chief financial officer, said that the university will borrow $28 million to pay for the project with the balance coming from private donors.
She said that $11 million in donations and pledges for the project have already been received. “We’re making very, very good progress.”
President Rodney Rogers also expressed confidence that the university would meet its goal.
He said that the project has been a decade in the making. When he arrived on campus as business dean, people were talking about the inadequacy of the building housing business. “These facilities are lagging other business schools in the state.”
He predicted that the new center “will drive enrollment and serve constituencies on campus.”
Architectural rendering of Maurer Center (image provided by BGSU)
Construction on the project has already begun with the relocation of utility lines under the nearby parking lot that started over the winter break. The project will be completed by summer, 2020, in time for the beginning of the fall semester.
The building will include the offices for the college, classrooms and open areas, all intermixed, to promote collaboration. The current College of Business building will still be used for classes.
At the end of the semester the programs still in the building will move to new locations. That includes the Gish Theatre being relocated to the theater in the student union, and with other parts of the collection going to Jerome Library and the Department of Theatre and Film.
The trustees also approved the funding for upgrading the forensic science facilities in the Life Sciences Building and doing extensive maintenance to the exterior and interior of Eppler Hall.
The state is funding the $1 million forensics project. The project will involve creating a forensics teaching lab and an office suite on the first floor. The research lab of Jon Sprague, the director of the Center for the Future of Forensic Science, is also located in the building.
Stoll said that the teaching lab will be designed to duplicate the setup and environment of the nearby Bureau of Criminal Investigation lab, said acting Provost John Fischer. The BCI labs are closed to the public.
Stoll described the work on Eppler as upgrading the buildings “envelope” to remedy problems of water infiltration.
The $1.7 million will be paid for out of maintenance funds. The work is long overdue, she said.
Unlike major projects such as University Hall, Kuhlin Center or the Maurer Center this one will not be a show place to attract students. “Students don’t say this is the school they want to come to because of the roofs.”
The project is part of an ongoing emphasis in the summer to catch up on deferred maintenance. Instead of taking on several projects as in recent summers, Stoll said, the university decided to focus its efforts on Eppler.
Some interior work to fix interior water damage will also be done.
Eppler, built in 1926, houses the schools of Human Movement, Sport, and Leisure Studies and Family and Consumer Sciences.
Named spaces in the Maurer Center approved were: the Diane Golero Beni and David Beni Supply Chain Management Faculty Office; the Allen A. and Mary D. Green Mezzanine; the Michael and Michele McDaniel Executive Conference Room, and the Riedl Courtyard.
A walkway in the Greek Village will also be named for John J. Riedl, who is a member of the BGSU Foundation Board of Directors.
