Hopefully they've factored enough money in for maintenance so that this doesn't happen:

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/12/03/...

The interesting and sad part of this article is this:

“We had previously expressed our concern of the condition of Galbreath, but nothing was done,” Mackler said. “Hoping they can get this historic building fixed soon.”

Officials say they first discovered the leak earlier this week but have yet to figure out the hole’s exact location or fully assess the damage.

I've been to several weddings over the last few years and the peeling paint on the ceiling has been quite obvious for some time.  Can't believe that they would say that they first discovered it this week especially when you consider I sent an email to Cutler Hall earlier this year pointing this out.  

That's a good one Ben.  Seriously though, I've sent a few emails to Cutler through the years (going back to the Glidden era), and have always gotten a response.  Some have been complimentary (when Glidden and his wife and the manse were featured in Ohio magazine) and some have been letters of concern (the falling plaster in Galbraeth).

Bowl win increased my donation

This is very interesting:

The facility still might include additional features, such as a track, that were not included in the initial $11 million projection.

The final renderings will depend on the total amount raised for the project. That total has not been determined because fundraising is still in progress.

“For that base model, that $11 million might be $10.5 million or it might be $12 million,” Schaus said. “I’m not expecting gigantic swings in that, but you want to be sure as we’re getting closer, we have all the things we want in it.

“The bottom line is we’re going to raise all the money we possibly can, and we’re going to build the best facility we can with the resources that we have.”  [Emphasis mine]

I heard they were doing a big push to get the rest of the money so they can break ground and have it completed by next summer.

I'm a little surprised and concerned about the total expected cost of this IPF. A new IPF at Tennessee is projected to cost $45 million, and someone just posted Marshall's IPF is around $29 million. I'm all for spending less money where possible, but I don't want the university to be "pound foolish" on this. I hope the power's that be are taking a long-term view of this project in both usage and total expenditure. This project has the potential to significantly affect Ohio athletics. I hope we are smart with the planning.

That's true. Both Tennessee's and Marshall's facilities will include additional functional space. Quick summary:

Ohio: 74,000 square feet, IPF only.

Marshall: 100,000 square feet, IPF plus includes space for sports medicine, and student athletics academic center.

Tennessee: 145,000 square feet, IPF plus includes space for amphitheater team room, coaches offices, position team rooms, dining hall, multi-level weight room, training room.

All total, assuming Ohio's total budget will be $11 million, the cost per square foot will be:

Ohio: $150
Marshall: $290
Tennessee: $310

Ohio's is much closer to the average going construction rate, so we look good on the dollars per value equation. My concern is the potential need for additional space, or things we could incorporate into this building. Once you break ground for a project, it's often incrementally less money to build larger to accomodate needs versus building an all-new structure later to accomodate needs.

A regulation football field, with end zones, is 57,600 square feet. At 74,000 square feet, this building would accomodate that football field with a very small buffer all the way around. My question is only this: are we cutting ourselves short?

Tennessee already has an IPF. You can't compare that cost to what we are building. What they are building now is an expansion to it including a dining hall, sports medicine training/rehab ect. Here is a video with the IPF in the background. I've toured their IPF and it is massive with offices, coaches rooms, sports medicine area. Don't remember all of the details because it was 2 years ago but this current project was being discussed at that time.

Boise State paid $9.5 million for their facility 6 years ago.

http://www.broncosports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=54454&SPID=4074&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=9900&ATCLID=530884

We're not willing to go into the debt Akron is. This means we're a lot smarter than Akron.

  Do you know how much debt we incurred when the Convo was built?  We got, maybe a million or two from the feds because we built dormitory rooms in it (there was a federal program in those days to subsidize the building of college dormitories), but the rest was all debt -- about $7 million of it (probably around $30 million in today's dollars).  My father, who was then a member of the Faculty Advisory Council (precursor of the Faculty Senate), told President Alden to his face in an open meeting that he was acting like a medieval robber baron in the way he was funding this project.  That remark, by the way, was one he later regretted having made, and a decade or so later confessed that having the Convo was a good thing. (Dad had previously been chairman of the FAC, but I think at this time he was just a member, but I'm not completely clear in my memory when his term as chairman ended.)

I believe the IPF at Akron was paid for by a donation ($2-3 million) and the students.  Why the students?  It is attached to their student recreation center, and students approved a fee to pay for that facility.  Smart way to do it, I think.  Too bad we didn't have that foresight when building Ping.  Further, I think it would have been smarter to attach our IPF to Peden and share ground-level facilities between the two.

You're missing my point.  Akron used the same fee to fund the IPF.