WMU in Kalamazoo, Michigan is eying for a $69 million complete rebuild of its most heavily used classroom building Sangren Hall, or a much cheaper renovation by mid-2010. The plans depend on the amount of state funding available and whether the Board of Trustees would approve paying for the project mostly through borrowing and fundraising, if sufficient state funding does not turn up.

The state contributed the standard 75% (or $42 million) of the requested $56 million to renovate Sangren, from its capital-outlay budget. In late 2008, the state committed $11.7 million toward the renovation and WMU officials agreed to a phased project.

The $15.6 million first phase would cover design, engineering, construction drawings and bid documentation, with some money set aside for the actual renovation. A second, $40 million phase would cover the bulk of the renovation. But the state has not produced the second installment, after the initial $11.7 million commitment. WMU officials are in the opinion that after an extensive analysis, they consider that building new is a better option than renovating Sangren.

If the state commits to the additional funding, WMU would use the entire $42 million toward a new, $60-million Sangren Hall. Another $9 million will be funded by WMU for related construction costs. If the state doesn’t provide second-phase funding, Western could scale back the project and use just the $15.6 million to renovate Sangren.

Sangren Hall was built in 1964, the second of four major academic classroom facilities constructed in the 1960’s. The other three buildings, Wood, Kohrman, and Brown Halls, have been or are in the process of being renovated.

The project to renovate Sangren Hall has been the first priority on WMU’s Capital Outlay Request list since 2000, and was first placed on the capital outlay list in 1995. The need to upgrade Sangren Hall remains critical. It is the most heavily-scheduled and has the largest classroom capacity of any of WMU’s academic buildings. The building’s aging infrastructure is deteriorating and the existing building limitations make it increasingly difficult for faculty to adopt new teaching methodologies and technology.

The 207,000 square feet, three-story concrete and glass building’s ground floor was vacated in December 2007, when offices and studios for the School of Art moved into the renovated South Kohrman Hall. Some offices have been reassigned and reoccupied but the majority of the vacated spaces require major remodeling and/or renovation before any reuse is possible.

Besides classrooms, Sangren Hall houses faculty offices, the education dean’s office, the education library, computer labs, other services and centers.