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Officials approve Kirkhof Center expansion
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Erik Westlund GVL Assistant News Editor News 2/11/2007 9:15:58 PM
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| The Grand Valley State University Board of Trustees approved an
expansion of the Kirkhof Center Friday, the latest in a series of
construction projects totaling almost $100 million. GVSU Vice President for University Relations Matt McLogan said the university wanted to move quickly to provide more space to accommodate the recent growth in student organizations, which have increased more than 100 percent since 2002. “Clearly, when additional students have been admitted we have to add physical spaces to accommodate them,” he said. “We’ve really tried to do that in a rational and balanced way.” The three-story addition will provide 40 new rooms covering about 25,000 square feet. Existing spaces within the current building will be reworked to better utilize the facilities. The Office of Multicultural Affairs will move to the new addition of the Kirkhof Center from the Lower Commons and the Women’s Center will relocate from the east side of the building into a larger suite in the addition. The gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues offices will move into the space vacated by the existing Women’s Center. The student-run newspaper (Grand Valley Lanthorn), radio station (WCKS) and television station (GVBN) offices are also slated to move into the Kirkhof Center. There will be more space dedicated to storage for food service, and the bookstore and a larger loading dock will replace the existing one, where the addition to the building will be located. With many offices vacating the Lower Commons, the goal is to dedicate the entirety of the building to food service, Director of Student Life Bob Stoll said. “When Grand Valley continues to grow, like any organization, you are always trying to make the best decisions for space and organization,” he said. GVSU Associate Dean of the OMA Bobby Springer said his staff is very excited about the move because the workplace should be housed with the other student affairs offices. “We are definitely boxed in here in the (Lower Commons building),” he said. “We have people without offices that have to use center space and cannot meet with students about private affairs.” The Board of Trustees did not announce a starting date for construction, but the addition is scheduled to be open for occupancy in May 2008 with a total budget of $6.2 million. The construction costs will be funded by revenue bonds and the campus development fund. The Kirkhof Center was expanded in 2004 after board approval in 2001. “If we knew then what we know now — that enrollment would increase 25 percent — we probably would have made that addition larger,” Stoll said. “We would have liked to have done more with that phase, but we weren’t able to afford it.” GVSU has undertaken four major construction projects and is on a very aggressive building schedule, he added. “We are very lucky to be able to get this project off the ground,” Stoll said. “There are so many demands for dollars for facility improvements.” The Board of Trustees recently approved $42.7 million in funding for academic building expansion, an addition to the Fieldhouse and an electric and storm water system upgrade. |
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