I had heard about moving the ice rink next to Ping.
The rationale was to save on energy costs.

I know they had talked about a new aquatic center.
But I thought they were looking at a couple of possible locations.

Haven't heard anything about either project for a while.

As I've posted before,if the ice rink project goes ahead,
it should be possible to convert Bird Arena to a Practice Facility
for basketball and volleyball.

Since you've already got the building,it would be a lot cheaper then
starting from scratch.

To me,the Practice Facility is more critical then improvements to
student side of Peden.
[/QUOTE]Agree on the priorities. The plan though on Bird Arena and the aquatic center a few years back was to build them adjacent to the Ping Center. This way it frees up prime academic space close to campus. The practice facility I believe is just waiting for a lead donor (corporate or individual) to be identified. That one could pick up university funds if it doubles as a visitor center. I'd like the idea of a second weight room and nutrition center also in the project. It wouldn't be a lot more when the current weight room cost only 1 million to build. I doubt we try to build it on a total shoestring as we didn't do it with the IPF or academic center.

[QUOTE]The CMP also recommends that OU relocate the Bird ice arena and OU’s indoor pool facilities, currently near Baker University Center, to a spot adjacent to Ping Center. According to the CMP: “Due to the long-term cost of addressing deferred maintenance at Bird Arena and the Aquatic Center, replacement of these facilities is recommended,” the plan reads. “Replacement of these facilities with new construction adjacent to Ping Center allows the centrally located site to be redeveloped as an academic building in the long term.”

https://www.athensnews.com/news/campus/ou-plan-calls-for-...

Problem is the Convo , specifically the back of the Convo is in the 100 year flood stage and building there is prohibitive a practice facility adjacent to the Convo would be very difficult to swing. The new flood plains were drafted several years ago.

I agree, but unfortunately that's not the American way. Why re-purpose a structurally sound building when you can "tear down what you got, and put up a parking lot." (Some of you old farts will recognize that quote.) We've seen several examples of that in Athens recently with the raising of Old Morton Hall and some of the destructive activity at Ridges. And, don't mention the public school buildings under the wreaking ball as we speak. In Europe, which certainly isn't my model for many things, none of these buildings would have been torn down. They would have been remodeled, renovated and reused.

Unless somebody writes a big check to cover the cost, I wouldn't be spending any more money right now. Higher ed is the next bubble to break.

And Ohio is dropping in number of freshmen, with budget cuts, seems like lower donations and dropping in the rankings. Need to turn all that around before I feel real good about the future.

“Dr. Patton’s generosity is truly overwhelming and humbling. Her gifts have transformed, and will continue to transform, arts and education at Ohio University,” OU President M. Duane Nellis said in the release. “The Violet L. Patton Center for Arts Education will be a jewel on our Arts Education Green, which will be on the east end of North Green and will encompass buildings that house music and dance, arts and education, and the new Patton Center. This vibrant green will serve as an entry point for campus and as a magnet for excellent students, faculty, and staff to embrace and experience the arts.”

Approximately 50 percent of Dr. Patton’s $64 million commitment will support the design, construction and furnishing of the new Patton Center, the release said, and approximately $27 million will support the Patton College of Education’s facilities. In addition, $5 million will be used to support the ongoing maintenance of both of these facilities.

https://www.athensnews.com/news/campus/ou-alumna-violet-p...

Fantastic news. Hopefully public schools in the area can benefit from this committment to increased and improved arts education.

Alan, and others sharing his views, might be interested in checking out http://www.teachrock.org and Little Steven's commitment to supporting arts education.

The century bond was created a few years ago to help address significant deferred maintenance. Deferred maintenance projects are done each year using these internal revolving loan funds. McCraken was renovated using funds part of the Patten donation. Ellis Hall was just completely renovated. A replacement for Clippinger is under construction. Lindsey hall had significant work done a few years ago. Four new residence halls were built to replace high maintenance South Green dorms. New chiller systems have been completed recently. Jefferson was just totally renovated. I know I am missing some and there is still much to be done. As far as the endowment the last campaign raise around 1/2 Billion dollars.

"Generally, a policy of continued deferred maintenance may result in higher costs, asset failure, and in some cases, health and safety implications."

When did deferred maintenance become an acceptable thing? [/QUOTE]Ohio State has talked about it as a concept as far back as 2002. They have the most square footage to keep up to date. John Kasich made it a priority as governor of Ohio in 2011 and set up a commission led by president McDavis. This led ultimately to the creation of the century bond at Ohio University for deferred maintenance. McDavis said the idea was to be able to "pay as you go" with everything on a maintenance schedule instead of racking up debt.

https://news.osu.edu/deferred-maintenance-a-growing-probl... /

https://budget.ohio.gov/Budget/capital/doc/fy-15-16/OHEFC...

[QUOTE]Ohio University has proposed an innovative debt management strategy designed to create an estimated $1.4 billion for deferred maintenance projects during the next century without taking on additional debt.

The funding model is designed to proactively manage debt and reduce the cost of deferred maintenance projects, while improving the health and safety of the Athens and regional campuses, increasing reliability to researchers, and ensuring OHIO remains competitive at attracting and recruiting the next generation of faculty, staff and students.

“The objective here is to attack our deferred maintenance backlog, and rather than seeing it grow from $87 a square foot to $100 a square foot, our goal is to reduce it from $87 a square foot to $57 a square foot in the next six to nine years,” said Vice President for Finance and Administration Stephen Golding. “Having a 210-year-old history with a number of buildings that were built in the early to mid-20th century puts us in a situation where we have facilities that are in need of renovation and restoration, and this plan will allow us to do that.”

https://www.ohio.edu/compass/stories/14-15/10/century_bon...

Good stuff. Only issue I have is the endowment thing. Endowment is no where near what it needs to be IMHO, and until it’s in the bank you can’t spend it and you can’t bank it. I’m just saying that a school like Colorado College here in the springs has 2000 students and an endowment larger ($765,000,000)than ours. They can do a lot more with those factors than we can.