The Kansas Board of Regents approved Wichita State’s request to remodel Clinton Hall into a student success center during their Wednesday meeting. The estimated cost of construction and other fees is $16.4 million— which will come from private funds, student fees, and revenue bond funds.

The request includes constructing a 3,360 square foot addition to Clinton Hall on the south side of the building to “increase visibility of the main entrance, address accessibility to multiple levels of the facility, increase access to natural light, and provide necessary square footage to accommodate all the desired services.”

“When Clinton Hall vacates once Woolsey Hall construction is complete in spring of ‘22, the Barton School of Business will move out of Clinton Hall and into Woolsey Hall, and that allows for the opportunity to co-locate student service departments that are scattered around campus into Clinton Hall,” KBOR’s Director of Facilities Chad Bristow said. “[It will create] a centralized location at the center of campus in convenient proximity to the Rhatigan Student Center and the library.”

The project is anticipated to allow five buildings to relocate their operations into the new center. These buildings — Brennan I, Brennan II, Brennan III, Intensive English Language Center, and the Intensive English Annex— will be “taken offline” with chance of demolition.

“With the buildings that are vacated you have another 52,000 square feet that could be potentially demolished or taken offline in some capacity,” Bristow said.

According to the request, the renovation of Clinton Hall will resolve roughly $5.65 million of deferred maintenance costs. The five other buildings add another $2.49 million in deferred maintenance.

The project (design, documentation, and construction) is estimated to take approximately 27-28 months to complete.