Aug. 21, 2010
Marshall’s Campus Expanding to Downtown Huntington
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
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Huntington, WV (HNN) – Despite sketchy details, the Huntington creative community is all smiles with Marshall University’s acquisition of the six story former Stone and Thomas building across from Pullman Square. Matt Turner, the university’s Chief of Staff, stresses that the plans are very preliminary.
However, he has confirmed that the university closed on the purchase Monday, Aug 16 from John Hankins.
During past months, a view of the interior verified that something was happening. Vacant since the department store closed, workers have stripped the interior to bare walls and inserted windows on the structure’s sides on the upper stories. The Huntington-Ironton Empowerment Zone invested $100,000 for preparations of the structure’s interior.
The project first surfaced when MU President Stephen Kopp and Huntington Mayor Kim Wolfe sent a letter to Rep. Nick Rahall in late January 2010, requesting consideration of about $8 million in grants over a four year period. Under the proposal, the university would move its visual arts and design studios and classrooms there. These programs now occupy five floors of Smith Hall and the third floor of Old Main.
Phase two of the project would move the sculpture and ceramics program, not at a warehouse, to downtown. An arts incubator and student housing for juniors, seniors and grad students in adjacent locations would be planned.
Build out costs are estimated at about $1 million dollars per 10,000 square feet. The building has 70,000 square feet. Additional expenditures would be necessary for infrastructure, elevators, heating and air conditioning.
Although the university has started work on a timetable, the planning is dependent on the receipt of grants, donations or endowments.
Money for the $1.15 million dollar purchase came from a portion of the funds received from the sale of the University Heights property to the Cabell County Board of Education. The MU Board of Governors approved the purchase at a prior meeting. According to The Herald Dispatch, board member Dr. Touma had an option to purchase the property but the doctor passed his option to Marshall.
No announcements have come from the university pertaining to progress in the fund solicitation aspect..
In the joint letter to Rahall, Dr. Kopp and Mayor Wolfe stressed innovative partnerships and commercial opportunities for relocating the visual arts programs to a centralized, highly visible facility.
“A specious, highly visible facility renovated to become a downtown attraction for the ‘creative class’ will transform the arts, cultural and business landscape of the City’s Empowerment Zone,” the letter stated.
Aside from migrating students, tourists and visitors to the district where students/graduates would live in work studio lofts, the project would offer an opportunity for a growing Art Gallery , attracting private businesses (i.e. graphic design), and offering evening and weekend community classes to children and adults.
“A prime downtown location for the visual arts affirms and advances an array of mutually beneficial outcomes for the University and City. This confident move builds on the success of the city’s efforts to revitalize itself,” the arts incubator summary states.
Projects such as this have helped invigorate other cities with under-utilized historic spaces, the letter says, citing the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia, and the art program at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va. Two examples of downtowns that have benefited from university art programs include Fargo, N.D., which has benefited from the program at North Dakota State University, as well as Columbus, Ga., home to an art program at Columbia State University, the letter said.
To read the January 2010 story illustrated with graphics from other campuses, click:
http://archives.huntingtonnews.net/local/100130-rutherford-localartfunding.html
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Marshall’s Campus Expanding to Downtown Huntington
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Huntington, WV (HNN) – Despite sketchy details, the Huntington creative community is all smiles with Marshall University’s acquisition of the six story former Stone and Thomas building across from Pullman Square. Matt Turner, the university’s Chief of Staff, stresses that the plans are very preliminary.
However, he has confirmed that the university closed on the purchase Monday, Aug 16 from John Hankins.
During past months, a view of the interior verified that something was happening. Vacant since the department store closed, workers have stripped the interior to bare walls and inserted windows on the structure’s sides on the upper stories. The Huntington-Ironton Empowerment Zone invested $100,000 for preparations of the structure’s interior.
The project first surfaced when MU President Stephen Kopp and Huntington Mayor Kim Wolfe sent a letter to Rep. Nick Rahall in late January 2010, requesting consideration of about $8 million in grants over a four year period. Under the proposal, the university would move its visual arts and design studios and classrooms there. These programs now occupy five floors of Smith Hall and the third floor of Old Main.
Phase two of the project would move the sculpture and ceramics program, not at a warehouse, to downtown. An arts incubator and student housing for juniors, seniors and grad students in adjacent locations would be planned.
Build out costs are estimated at about $1 million dollars per 10,000 square feet. The building has 70,000 square feet. Additional expenditures would be necessary for infrastructure, elevators, heating and air conditioning.
Although the university has started work on a timetable, the planning is dependent on the receipt of grants, donations or endowments.
Money for the $1.15 million dollar purchase came from a portion of the funds received from the sale of the University Heights property to the Cabell County Board of Education. The MU Board of Governors approved the purchase at a prior meeting. According to The Herald Dispatch, board member Dr. Touma had an option to purchase the property but the doctor passed his option to Marshall.
No announcements have come from the university pertaining to progress in the fund solicitation aspect..
In the joint letter to Rahall, Dr. Kopp and Mayor Wolfe stressed innovative partnerships and commercial opportunities for relocating the visual arts programs to a centralized, highly visible facility.
“A specious, highly visible facility renovated to become a downtown attraction for the ‘creative class’ will transform the arts, cultural and business landscape of the City’s Empowerment Zone,” the letter stated.
Aside from migrating students, tourists and visitors to the district where students/graduates would live in work studio lofts, the project would offer an opportunity for a growing Art Gallery , attracting private businesses (i.e. graphic design), and offering evening and weekend community classes to children and adults.
“A prime downtown location for the visual arts affirms and advances an array of mutually beneficial outcomes for the University and City. This confident move builds on the success of the city’s efforts to revitalize itself,” the arts incubator summary states.
Projects such as this have helped invigorate other cities with under-utilized historic spaces, the letter says, citing the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia, and the art program at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va. Two examples of downtowns that have benefited from university art programs include Fargo, N.D., which has benefited from the program at North Dakota State University, as well as Columbus, Ga., home to an art program at Columbia State University, the letter said.
To read the January 2010 story illustrated with graphics from other campuses, click:
http://archives.huntingtonnews.net/local/100130-rutherford-localartfunding.html
Share This Story:
Make HNN Your Homepage (IE Users Only)
