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My thought, when I first heard they were considering renovation, was there were basically 4-5 ways they could go.
1. Shut down the building and renovate.
Not great because they would have to relocate some employees and operations, lay off some employees and find another place for many activities.
2. Renovate while staying open as they did for the last big renovation when they closed in the sunken garden to make the food court and added the front.
3. Renovate while staying open but only do smaller renovations as they have done over the years since the last major renovation.
4. Do nothing.
5. Build a new 'Lair nearby (Boreman location?) while keeping the current building open until the new one is finished.
There would be a precedent for that as that is what they did when the current building was built. If they do this and had the money I would surmise this would be part of a major redo of that side of the downtown campus to tie in with major changes to roads and constructions of new dorms.
They are apparently looking at the state of the current building to see whether major renovations are possible. The building actually looks pretty good and I am fond of it, but you have to consider that it is almost 50 years old and a little small especially in the area of large function rooms. Moving a lot of the student services such as financial aid has freed up a lot of space but there are still major problems. The plumbing has been a mess for decades, especially since the food court add on. Further renovations over the years have added walls and removed walls all over the building which has added to problems with air handling. Electrical especially in many of the offices is inadequate for modern needs.
Which way will they go-- haven't a clue at this point. I would think 5 would have a lot of appeal if they could come up with the money. I just hope that no one that had anything to do with the University Avenue project is allowed to have anything to do with it.
Apparently this project is moving along pretty quickly, the university this week and next is having focus groups among students who were selected by professors on the down town campus. Also from what i have heard, Gee is taking a very active role and interest in this project. I've also heard a rumor that the university is looking into the idea of some how making the mountain lair extend into the boreman hall area (I'm not sure if it was like previously mentioned where it possibly goes where boreman is now or if they are truly trying to figure out how to combine both properties into a huge student union facility).
Also from what i understand, its more likely than not that the bowling alley is gone no matter what.
Also, i have no clue about the truly gutting vs tearing down the mountainlair (i'm sure we will know this summer) but apparently the Mountainlair is built on a sand mixture and during that "earth quake" we had a couple years ago it apparently shook the Mountainlair pretty badly (enough some employees refused to go back to work that day on the second floor) and possibly did some slight structural damage to it (hence they are looking into wether it can be gutted or if they have to tear it down). And apparently the floor of the upstairs ball room is actually caving in slowly into the downstairs, not just the wood/flooring but the actual structural part of the floor.
Apparently this project is moving along pretty quickly, the university this week and next is having focus groups among students who were selected by professors on the down town campus. Also from what i have heard, Gee is taking a very active role and interest in this project. I've also heard a rumor that the university is looking into the idea of some how making the mountain lair extend into the boreman hall area (I'm not sure if it was like previously mentioned where it possibly goes where boreman is now or if they are truly trying to figure out how to combine both properties into a huge student union facility).
Also from what i understand, its more likely than not that the bowling alley is gone no matter what.
Also, i have no clue about the truly gutting vs tearing down the mountainlair (i'm sure we will know this summer) but apparently the Mountainlair is built on a sand mixture and during that "earth quake" we had a couple years ago it apparently shook the Mountainlair pretty badly (enough some employees refused to go back to work that day on the second floor) and possibly did some slight structural damage to it (hence they are looking into wether it can be gutted or if they have to tear it down). And apparently the floor of the upstairs ball room is actually caving in slowly into the downstairs, not just the wood/flooring but the actual structural part of the floor.
If that's really the case they should just TEAR DOWN the Lair and built a brand new modern state-of-the art facility. WVU has mastered the art of public-private partnerships. It may cost at a minimum 100 million but it must be done. Evansdale Crossing can get by on being the Lair for a year or two. WVU can't half arse it. in the case of tearing down Boreman let's face it the student population has plateaued. If it somehow reaches overcapacity the freshman can stay at one of the University Housing places such as Vandalia, University Park, College Park, etc. Can't wait to find out what will happen.
If that's really the case they should just TEAR DOWN the Lair and built a brand new modern state-of-the art facility. WVU has mastered the art of public-private partnerships. It may cost at a minimum 100 million but it must be done. Evansdale Crossing can get by on being the Lair for a year or two. WVU can't half arse it. in the case of tearing down Boreman let's face it the student population has plateaued. If it somehow reaches overcapacity the freshman can stay at one of the University Housing places such as Vandalia, University Park, College Park, etc. Can't wait to find out what will happen.
The student population hasn't plateaued. It's averaging a 5k student increase a decade. Gee has stated he wants 40k by 2020. That's not gonna happen as we are also increasing admission standards at the same time. But a 5k or higher increase per decade will continue to happen for the forseeable future
The student population hasn't plateaued. It's averaging a 5k student increase a decade. Gee has stated he wants 40k by 2020. That's not gonna happen as we are also increasing admission standards at the same time. But a 5k or higher increase per decade will continue to happen for the forseeable future
From what I have heard, this year is one of the highest amounts of people ever applying.
Along that line, I believe the university is looking into lowering the academic standard for admission. That should help toward Gee's stated goal, though, I must admit, I didn't know that the current standard was high enough that it could be lowered.
With the fact now that the Lair may be unstructurally sound they may be forced to tear the whole thing down completely in a year or two.
I saw that. While I'd hate to see the lair go, I think it is probably best just to tear it down and build a much bigger and state of the art student union in its place. I think that a major renovation won't cut it, and WVU seems serious about major construction downtown for a lot of buildings. I think and hope in 10 years downtown is going to look a lot nicer.
If it's torn down - which won't happen - a pedestrian bridge should be built that connects with the building itself . So as you leave the Lair your elevated and on the bridge to cross the street . It would help with the traffic . I'm to the point in life that all the sentimentality associate with my time at WVU is gone .
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