WATTS project to begin sooner

YSU revises priorities to favor athletic center

By HAROLD GWIN

VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown State University has advanced the timetable for building an indoor athletic-training facility on campus.

Design work on the $10 million WATTS (Watson And Tressel Training Site) Center on the north side of campus will now begin in July of this year instead of February 2010 as earlier proposed.

An updated campus-improvement project list presented to the YSU Board of Trustees shows construction will now begin in March 2010 and be completed in October 2010. A list given to the board in March showed the center construction wouldn’t begin until July 2010 and be completed in February 2011.

That schedule raised concern among some trustees when they learned that the restoration of the Wick Pollock Inn, a project pegged at about $4 million, had moved up the list ahead of the WATTS Center.

The trustees voted in February to borrow $47 million for a variety of campus projects, primarily the new $30 million Williamson College of Business Administration building now under construction.

Of the $47 million, $21 million was borrowed in phase one in March, earmarked entirely for the Williamson project. The rest of the money will be borrowed in 2010 in phase two, and there are a number of projects to be done under that funding.

However, the Williamson bids came in so low that $4 million was left over, so the university administration was able to move Wick Pollock up from phase two to phase one, with design work to begin this July and construction running from November of this year to December 2010.

That prompted complaints from some trustees who felt the WATTS project should have been given priority as a project that would provide immediate benefit to the student body.

Trustee Harry Meshel said the board had made it clear that it felt the WATTS Center was a higher priority because it would provide an immediate benefit to students.

Both facilities are a priority, David C. Sweet, YSU president, told the board.

However, the WATTS building is dependent upon raising $5 million in philanthropic funding (with the other $5 million to come from the phase two borrowing), and the private funding is still $2 million short, Sweet said, adding that an architect has yet to be selected for the job.

Trustee Carole Weimer suggested that the design phase for the WATTS Center be moved up, and the university has worked to make that happen.

The new project list given to the trustees shows that they should be able to select an architectural, engineering firm for the project in June.

Meshel said the $2 million funding shortfall may not be an issue, based on the Williamson bids. Sweet said those bids came in 22 percent below estimates, and the WATTS project could get the same break, Meshel said.

Plus, fundraising can be easier when people can see the work in progress Meshel said, adding, “There are people out there waiting to make contributions.”

Once the new Williamson building opens in fall 2010, the current Williamson facility on Lincoln Avenue will most likely be used as temporary classroom and office space as other departments need to move to make way for other campus renovations, the university has indicated.

Meshel said he would like to see that building become a dedicated student-activities center, with all student-related offices such as registration, admissions, student accounts, the Veterans’ Office and others moved into a central location.

“They’re going to four or five different places now,” he said, adding that there is support across camps for the central location, particularly among students.

gwin@vindy.com