UNCG to renovate historic quad buildings
GREENSBORO — UNCG will renovate — rather than demolish — its old quad dorms, school trustees decided Thursday.
“UNCG has demonstrated our commitment to historically sensitive renovation,” Chancellor Linda Brady told the board, “illustrated by Aycock Auditorium, this lovely Alumni House, Forney and other projects — and I pledge we will approach renovation of the quad residence halls in the same spirit.”
The quad has been the center of a controversy since last April when the school suggested it might be cheaper and easier to demolish the buildings, which are some of the oldest on campus, than to repair and renovate them. The seven buildings, some of which date back to 1919, have for years gone without $32 million in badly needed maintenance.
Brady held a series of campus forums on the issue and has said she and the other board members have been talking to people in the community about the quad throughout the summer.
Finally, she said, the best decision seemed to be to renovate the quad to include modern single and suite-style rooms and to build a new residence hall of 300 to 400 rooms somewhere else on campus. The school estimates the cost of the new building at between $30 million and $33 million.
Because a renovation to repair and modernize the quad buildings will ultimately mean fewer rooms, a new dorm is needed to deal with the influx of on-campus students a renovation won’t address.
Vice Chancellor Carol Disque said the first new building would likely be next to the apartment-style Tower Village dorms at Spring Garden and Aycock Streets. Large sections of the property are now undeveloped or used as a parking lot.
“That’s an area that has long been identified as a spot for new housing,” Disque said. “There is enough room there now for more than one new building.”
During the Thursday meeting at Alumni House, the board authorized the chancellor to move forward with the renovation plan, which Brady said will cost about
$52.5 million, not including the construction of a new dorm that will be needed to house new students without a larger, rebuilt quad area.
Board member Randall Kaplan suggested the school should look for private donations toward the renovation.
“There were a lot of people with a lot of passion about this,” Kaplan said. “It is clearly going to be more expensive to do the renovation and new building than to do what we were going to do. I think it would be appropriate to ask now what would they be willing to contribute.”
Preservation North Carolina is one group that opposed demolition. The group was heavily involved in preserving the historic Chancellor’s House, which was threatened with demolition in 2003. More than $2 million in private money was raised to help move the house about 900 feet. It is now a visitor’s center.
Mike Stout, regional director for Preservation North Carolina, said his group was glad UNCG administrators heard the concerns of its members.
“People do donate to things they’re passionate about, and there are a lot of people who were very passionate about this,” Stout said. “We had a lot of members contact the board, write letters, send e-mails. Some could decide to donate money toward it.”
The trustees Thursday also approved Phase I of the school’s strategic housing plan.
“During my installation address in May, I spoke of the importance of honoring the past, seizing the moment and building for the future,” Brady said. “I am convinced these Phase I Strategic Housing Plan recommendations — to renovate the quad, to build a new residence hall on the core campus and to develop a new housing and recreational neighborhood near campus — is a significant first step toward addressing our housing and residence hall based educational needs for the foreseeable future.”
Contact Joe Killian at 373-7023 or joe.killian@news-record.com
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