Ohio University students can expect to find many changes on campus upon their return in the fall, including three demolished residence halls and construction along South Green Drive.
The three residence halls that will be torn down are Fenzel House, O’Bleness House and Martzolff House. Although those residence halls will be removed, renovations for Jefferson Hall will be completed Aug. 1, which will open the building to students again.
“We’re really excited about not only the residence hall being fully renovated, but the ground floor where we’ll have public space with a game room and open lounges, and that will connect with the new Jefferson Marketplace,” Christine Sheets, the assistant vice president for Student Affairs, said.
As for the construction on South Green Drive, the road will be moved to replace the culverts beneath it.
“The culverts that run under South Green Drive from Emeriti Pond over to the drainage by the Ping Center have started to deteriorate and fail. We had to stabilize them last summer. So this summer, we have to dig them all up and replace them with concrete culverts,” Greg Robertson, associate vice president for architecture, design and construction, said.
Robertson said two lanes of South Green Drive will remain, but the project will not be completed until after students return for Fall Semester.
Emergency construction on the Ping Recreation Center was not accounted for in the Master Plan, but Shawna Bolin, director of University Planning & Space Management, said the university plans for such projects financially through an emergency fund.
“Knowing that there may be issues on our campus given the age of our facility … Steve Wood and Joe Lalley have planned this emergency funding in the capital improvement plan to help mitigate issues like these when they arise,” Bolin said.
Additionally, the university will begin design work on multiple projects.
“We’re starting design work on the new Clippinger addition, which is a new building that we’ll have down there at Clippinger,” Robertson said. “We’re looking to hire consultants to work on the design for the new (Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine) building that’s gonna go on the campus.”
The Clippinger renovation is budgeted for $42.6 million and is projected to be completed in June 2020.
Design work is also underway for renovations to Seigfred Hall and the Central Classroom Building to accommodate C-Suite, a business incubation project.
The design work for the Seigfried renovations is budgeted at $17.6 million and will be completed in April 2020.
