EMILY SHANE
Managing Editor
The budget for the new performing arts complex is $30 million, according to David English, the chief financial officer and vice president for finance and management.
English does not expect tuition to increase to pay for the construction. “Currently, we expect the project will just over 50% funded from gifts; the remainder will be funded from a combination of bond proceeds and set-asides from prior years’ plant renewal allocations,” said English in an email.
“The building will make a slight increase to Denison’s overall number of building square feet (the building will be approximately a 40,000 addition to a base of 2 million square feet) and we will have to find funding for heating, cooling and maintenance of that space – but it is a marginal increase to plant costs, which in turn are only a small part of our overall operating costs,” added English, who was not able to share the preliminary plans for the building.
The new center will house the dance, music and theatre departments. Ace Morgan will be demolished and, according to the Village of Granville Planning Commision minutes from October 10, the new building will surround Burke Hall on three sides.
At the meeting, “the planning commision felt the building has no distinguishing features and hoped for a more dynamic design given the nature of the building and its location as a possible centerpiece of the community,” according to the minutes.
Matt Janiak, an architect from Westlake Reed and Leskosky, responded that “the subduing of the building’s southern elevation” was out of consideration for the neighbors.
The building should be completed by the fall of 2018 or winter of 2019, said Art Chonko, the director of facilities services at the meeting. The school is currently waiting for zoning approval.