Saturday, April 19, 2014
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
Youngstown State University’s new Veterans Resource Center is expected to open this summer.
“We’ll be able to do a much better job of serving the veterans,” said Harry Meshel, a YSU trustee who has been working on a committee to raise funds for the building under construction on Wick Avenue, the site of the former Peck House.
John Hyden, YSU’s executive director of facilities, said the project is on budget.
Adolph Johnson and Son Co. of Mineral Ridge is contractor for the $1.25 million two-floor, 6,000-square-foot building.
“I think it’s going to be a striking building when it’s done,” Meshel said. “I think it’s going to be one of the most impressive buildings on Wick. It’s going to have a very stately appearance.”
The sandstone building will be handicapped accessible at the front and back entrances with columns and a flagpole in front and fashioned with adequate parking, he said.
“We’ve been very careful about each detail,” Meshel, a veteran and former long-time state senator, said.
YSU’s veterans services is now in Tod Hall.
“We’ll be more aggressive in recruiting veterans and to truly serve the veterans,” Meshel said.
The center also will have staff to help veterans navigate through the financial aid process, and offer help with classes.
“It will have a lounge area and a meeting area, along with work areas,” he said.
This is the first project for which YSU has used a design-build contract, allowing construction to start while design is ongoing. It’s a new process for Ohio’s public institutions.
Formerly, design had to be completed, the project advertised for bids and a contract awarded before the start of construction.