Recordpub.com - KSU dorms to be razed despite housing crunch; Demolition set for 10 40-year-old residence halls

By Dave O'Brien
Record-Courier staff writer
The fall semester will see the demolition of Kent State University's Small Group Upper and Lower Plaza buildings.
At the same time, as many as 250 students will be cramming, four at a time, into temporary bunks in the study lounges of half a dozen KSU residence halls.
But according to KSU officials, it's supposed to be this way.
The 11 Small Group buildings are located at the northwest corner of East Summit Street and Loop Road and on Loop Road across from the KSU Ice Arena. Dedicated in 1968 or 1969, they each housed approximately 100 first-year students each for 40 years.
Demolition of the three-story Altmann, Apple, Harbourt, Heer, Humphrey, Metcalf, Munzenmayer and Musselman halls is expected to begin sometime after demolition bids are opened Sept. 5 by the Office of the University Architect. The demolition also is expected to save Residence Services $2 million a year in utility, personnel, repair and renovation costs.
Meanwhile, KSU's expects increased enrollment this year, though numbers are not official until two weeks into the new school year.
That increased enrollment at the university has led to as many as 250 students being asked to live in converted lounges in the "New Front" residence halls " Dunbar, Prentice and Verder " located on the north side of campus near East Main Street and the "Quad" halls " Lake and Olson " on Williams Drive next to the MAC Center.
So, why not put off demolition for a year and house the students in the Small Group buildings? University officials say the living situation would be neither comfortable for students nor conducive to handicapped access.
Tom Euclide, executive director of facilities planning and operations, said a facilities assessement done in 2005 estimated the cost of renovating the 11 Small Group residence halls at almost $25 million.
Euclide said the buildings are "in great shape" structurally, with roofs and brickwork that has been maintained over the years. But $25 million, or about $2 million per building, would have only given the university another 10 to 15 good years on the life of the halls, he said.
"The biggest problem with them is that they're not handicapped-accessible. Every wing is on a different elevation, and we'd either need multiple elevators in every building or major renovations to the lobbies of the building to put in one main elevator," Euclide said.
Inside the buildings, "the electrical system was at the end of its useful life, the mechanical system was at the end of its useful life" and maintenance crews were dealing with an increased number of pipe failure, he added.
"It's the things that make it more comfortable for the students" that made the university decide to take the Small Group buildings offline, Euclide said.
KSU has added 1,600 student beds since 2000 with the construction of eight new residence halls. Residence Services Director Betsy Joseph previously said KSU had 600 empty beds when classes began in fall 2007.
Operating closer to full capacity, she said, avoided having to increase room and board rates. State funds and tuition money from students do not pay any costs for Residence Services, which is funded entirely with room and board fees paid by students.
Euclide said a housing overflow "is a good thing" for the university, which always sees a number of "no-show" students in the fall or others discovering "college isn't for them," he said.

6.	Posted by Rob Anderson August 10, 2008
	It appears, jimbo13501, that you are at least aware of the spending priorities set by some asministrators such as those of KSU that allowed them to hoard a rainey day fund approximating $300 million dollars while ignoring certain preventive maintenance of their building stock. Ever noticed the brick faces blowing off KSU's Library from stories on high? Or how's about the "quaint" porches recently added to protect folks entering/exiting the Smith/Williams/SRL Hall Science Comples from the spalling concrete facade? Both situations preventable with the proper preventive maintenance. We won't go here into any discussion about what constitutes a sensible program to manage asbestos in place as far as such bureaucracies are concerned, eh? Just make sure you don't mention the "A" word, eh?