43
YSU plans $13.7M renovation of student center
The Vindicator (Youngstown)
Photo
The North side of YSU's Kilcawley Center facing Spring Street.
The Vindicator (Youngstown)
Photo
The Chestnut Room in YSU's Kilcawley Center will move to the second floor.
The Vindicator (Youngstown)
Photo
YSU is planning to renovate the study area on the ground floor of Kilcawley Center
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
Work is expected to start May 23 on a $13.7 million renovation of Kilcawley Center at Youngstown State University.
The student-center project is expected to take about 15 months and be done in phases, said Matthew Novotny, Kilcawley Center director.
Jack Fahey, interim vice president of student affairs, said the building as it is now doesn’t function well for students.
“It’s not attractive to them,” he said. “It’s not a building that provides them with good service.”
A university’s student center is supposed to be a living room of the campus, Fahey said. It’s supposed to draw the community in and be easy to find your way around in.
“It’s been so long since it’s had a renovation; it’s very, very difficult to find your way around and it’s started to show its age,” he said.
Other universities with which YSU competes have renovated their student centers, and YSU must remain competitive and provide better service for students, the interim vice president said.
In 2009, YSU trustees designated $10 million for renovation of the building. The money came from a bond issue, borrowed for campus improvements.
The remainder will come through Kilcawley Center reserves, a new food-services contract in the center, money left over from the Wick Pollock House restoration project and the Williamson College of Business Administration building construction, the Centennial Master Plan account, the technology fund and a payment or loan from the university housing reserves.
This is the first major renovation of the building since the early 1980s. A recreation and wellness center was built adjacent to Kilcawley and the YSU bookstore was expanded in 2005, but those are considered separate facilities.
The Kilcawley renovation will expand the Chestnut Room, moving it to the building’s second floor. A combined food court will be created on the first floor, entry ways will be enhanced, and conference spaces will be consolidated on the second floor — separating them from student spaces on the first floor.
The project will also expand and upgrade the student government and Center for Student Progress areas. Mechanical, electrical, plumbing, computer and security systems will also be upgraded.
The renovation doesn’t mean, though, that there won’t be spaces for students on the building’s second floor, Novotny said.
Student groups are one of the heaviest users of the center’s conference spaces, he said.
The change, though, will make it easier logistically for groups that use the Chestnut Room for larger gatherings and then want smaller conference areas for break-out sessions.
“We’ve had a greater demand for larger and larger events “ at Kilcawley,” Novotny said.
The Dana School of Music also doesn’t have a large venue for performances.
The renovation project will accommodate those events. The Chestnut Room’s acoustics will be engineered for musical performances.
“It’s a good plan to serve the university community and the students by moving that component upstairs,” the director said.
Besides moving to the second floor, the Chestnut Room will be expanded to banquet seating for 500 and row-seating for 1,000-plus seats, from the current 350 banquet seats and 800 row-seating capacity.
“We hope when it’s all said and done, we have a beautiful facility and that students are well served,” said Novotny.