Marshall to Expand

[HerdOn]

MU begins building project

By Justin McElroy

The Herald-Dispatch

HUNTINGTON -- Marshall University will be expanding once again in 2007, as the school's board of governors chose a developer for a new $95 million project that includes a health and wellness center, student housing and parking.

Work is still in a largely conceptual state, Capstone Management of Birmingham, Ala., the development firm, has only the basic details about what the project may look like. They say that the 125,000-square-foot health and wellness center should be around three stories tall and built with red brick glass and cast stone, similar to other newer facilities on Marshall's campus.

Capstone officials said that the health and wellness facility is a top priority, not only for the school, but also for their This institution is in a position to take off in a very positive way," Capstone President Douglas Brown said. "This (center) will make it not only a more healthy institution, but a more healthy community." The project also includes a student housing project of 712 beds. That amount would translate to a 1,000-foot-long facility if laid end to end, but it seems likely that it will be broken up into several buildings.

At the same time, Capstone is planning to build a new baseball field and update the softball field, both to NCAA and Conference USA standards. The $95 million also tentatively includes a 500-space parking garage. It is not set where the facilities will be. Different configurations have been discussed, but the university hopes to get started on construction in the spring of next year and have it complete by the end of 2008, with the housing done by August of 2008, so decisions will probably be made soon.

In addition to being state-of-the-art buildings, they're also being funded in a relatively new way. In fact, the setup is the first of its kind in West Virginia. The school and Capstone have agreed to make this what's called an "Off Balance Sheet Project." Marshall can not afford the expansion on its own, so Capstone will actually own and operate the buildings until their investment has been returned, when the buildings will revert back to the school. The way board chairman Menis Ketchum explained it, the facility will be run by Marshall personnel, but the development firm will be paying their salaries.

That also means that Capstone will be collecting user fees for the health and wellness center, and the fees for staying in the housing. The developers will set rates inconjunction with Marshall, but Ketchum said that their proposed rent is cheaper than what the school currently charges for housing.

This project is "a quantum leap," said Brown. "I don't know of many institutions taking this kind of step, and they're doing it in a very responsible way."

The health and wellness center will be designed by St. Louis' Hastings and Chivetta Architects, a firm which has created more than 155 similar facilities. Design Collective of Baltimore will be designing the student housing. Mascaro Construction, which is putting finishing touches on the Robert C. Byrd Biotechnology Science Center, is set to handle construction.

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/apps/pbcs.d...EWS01/608240345

Out of this there will be:

Health and Wellness Center (3 Stories)

New Co-Ed Dorms (712 beds)

New Baseball Stadium (2500 seat facility)

Softball Field Renovated

New Tennis Courts

2 500 Parking Lots

[PerryG2480]

That's actually really cool...but no one is allowed to bash us for posting stuff relating to North Texas on the C-USA boards any more.

[DeepGreen]

What does this board have to do with Marshall? I think UNT is still in the middle of it's construction boom, including the 138,000 sq foot Recreation Center that opened in 2003. And I believe there are 2-3 new dorms either going up right now, or scheduled to be started shortly.

[Go_UTA]

Personally, I think it is a little ridiculous to show up on another board with a post like that....harmless but a little juvenile.

Almost all of us could drop posts like this about our own university on the boards of others. But, I figure if I want to find-out about Marshall that I will go to a Marshall site. Good for Marshall. Maybe the guy from Marshall wants to hear about the $110 million engineering building we will soon build.

[MeanGreen61]

Personally, I think it is a little ridiculous to show up on another board with a post like that....harmless but a little juvenile.

Almost all of us could drop posts like this about our own university on the boards of others.  But, I figure if I want to find-out about Marshall that I will go to a Marshall site.  Good for Marshall.  Maybe the guy from Marshall wants to hear about the $110 million engineering building we will soon build. 

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Please keep in mind that they're from West Virginia