The Board also approved the appointment of an architect for the addition to the Franco Building at the Berks campus and the purchase of an 18-acre parcel for Penn State Erie.

The 9,000 square-foot addition to the Franco Building at Penn State Berks will fill the need for additional classroom and faculty office space, and will include three general-purpose classrooms, 12 faculty offices and a new learning center.  The firm, Atkin Olshin Lawson-Bell Architects of Philadelphia, has been selected to design the addition.

The Board approved sketch and preliminary plans for an administration building to replace the current one located in the former Beaver County Sanatorium.  That building is inadequate and will be demolished to make way for campus green space in accordance with the recently completed Master Plan.

The new 22,000 square-foot building, is being designed by Perkins Eastman Architects of Pittsburgh, and will be built in the southwest corner of the green space. The first floor will house faculty offices and lounge and mechanical storage space. The offices of the Registrar, the Division of Undergraduate Studies and the Bursar as well as Continuing Education, Business Services, Health Services and a learning center will be on the second floor, while the Campus Executive Officer, University Relations, Academic Affairs offices, a conference room and more faculty offices will be on the third floor.

The main entrance on the north side will open into the second floor lobby and concourse and a stairway to the first floor.  Because of the sharp change in grade, outside stairs will also lead down through a garden courtyard and connect the first floor to the existing campus bookstore in the Study-learning Center below. The total project budget is $4,950,000.  Construction is expected to begin in March, 2002.

For Penn State McKeesport, the Board approved final plans and gave authorization to obtain bids and award contracts for a new student union building.  Designed by WTW Architects of Pittsburgh, the 25,000 square-foot building will house a bookstore, Food Services, Student Affairs offices, a health center as well as lounge spaces and student organization offices.  It will be built on the site of the present student union, which will be demolished as part of the project.

Taking advantage of the change in grade, the upper level will be accessible to the new Campus Green and the lower level will be accessible from Broadway Avenue.  Activities and services now in the student union will be assigned temporary space in other buildings during the construction period. The brick and glass building is expected to cost $5,500,000, and construction will begin in August of this year.

Final plans for the 8,700 square-foot Extramural Research Facility at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center were also approved today by the Board.  In conjunction with a recently awarded National Institutes of Health Grant, this facility is planned as an addition to the existing animal research facility and will house animal laboratories and support space for research activities.  Designed by IKM, Incorporated, of Pittsburgh, the facility will be built on the north side of the existing structure and will be constructed of brick to match it.  The project is expected to cost $2.1 million, with construction beginning this August.

The Board also approved final plans for an indoor swimming pool addition to the Capital Union Building at Penn State Harrisburg.  The pool will be both a campus and community asset for recreational swimming, competition and therapeutic recreation.  The 9,000 square-foot addition approved by the Board today will be constructed on the south side of the building and will be visible in the approach to the campus core.  It will contain a six-lane competition-size swimming pool, and have natural light from the floor to ceiling glass windows that face south.  Improvements also include a landscaped outdoor patio between the pool addition and the union building.  The total project, designed by Breslin Ridyard Fadero Architects of Allentown, is $2.3 million.  Construction is expected to begin this fall.

In addition, the Board of Trustees approved the purchase of an 18-acre parcel of land for Penn State Erie.  The McGarvey property at 5191 Jordan Road was identified in the campus master plan as the proposed site for a Research and Economic Development Center.  The property has a single story 3,458 square-foot house with a two-car garage and a separate eight-car garage.  It will be purchased through a bargain sale agreement for $425,000.

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Contact:  Christy Rambeau (814) 865-7517 or cmr7@psu.edu