BSA moves ahead in renovation process
Business building donations at a standstill
Thanks to generous donations and tireless fundraising, the Bison Sports Arena is progressing closer to its refurbishing.
The BSA is slated to receive a new floor, renovated seating, new track competition and practice areas, as well as additional offices and meeting rooms.
A major change will be that the basketball area will strictly be used for that sport only; the addition will provide sufficient space for other sports utilizing the facility, Bruce Frantz, director of facilities management, said
Approval was needed from the State Board of Higher Education before an architect could be hired. That approval was granted at the Feb. 16 meeting.
An architect should be selected by May, but construction won’t begin until funding has been fully identified, Frantz said.
Groundbreaking is tentatively set for spring 2007.
As one facet of the $75 million Momentum Campaign, the BSA portion established a goal of raising $8 million for renovation and an addition.
As of Jan. 31, $5 million had been committed to the project, Jason Wohlman, associate executive director of the Development Foundation, said.
The foundation is the institutionally related entity in charge of the fundraising efforts for the campaign, Wohlman said.
The campaign began two years ago in its silent phase and wasn’t brought to the public until October 2005, Frantz said.
In the beginning, fundraising efforts seemed to indicate that the new business administration building would be scheduled before the BSA. Now the donations are at a standstill, Frantz said.
“ It was going quite well early on, but then it just kind of hit a brick wall and hasn’t quite moved where it needed to recently,” Frantz said.
The College of Business Administration has become the fastest growing academic unit on campus, according to the Momentum Campaign Web site. Since its foundation nearly 20 years ago, the college has almost tripled in size.
To accommodate the expanding unit, a new business administration building is set for construction on the west side of campus, providing a “collaborative environment for faculty, students and the surrounding business community,” according to the Web site.
The design has already been created for the structure and an architect has been chosen; donors just need to be identified and have their contributions committed to the project. After cultivating those commitments, construction can begin, Frantz said.
The Momentum Campaign is NDSU’s first major campaign and fluctuations aren’t uncommon, Frantz said.
The alternating flow of donations for the two portions may also have to do with public awareness.
“ The transition that we’ve done to Division I athletics and the success we’ve had in a lot of the programs has just brought more national attention to NDSU,” Frantz said.
Frantz said that while the recent win over Wisconsin didn’t produce a spike in contribution levels, it did generate a lot of interest with the public.
Teammakers, the booster club for athletics, has also played a vital role in fundraising for the campaign.
The BSA and the new business administration building are not the only aspects of the campaign. Other focuses include student scholarships and teaching endowments, expanding the library collection and technology, the annual fund and the equine center.
More information about the campaign and its individual projects can be found at www.ndsufoundation.com/campaign.