Emerson Hall is changing from a dorm to offices for faculty and staff after May 2015 in response to the university’s pressing need for office space. The building is slated primarily for faculty, though there is discussion of moving Auxiliary Services staff as well to make room for a growing Student Development department, said Brian Phillips, senior director of facilities management.
“We’re kind of out of options in coming up with new offices so we think we could easily put faculty offices in Emerson. They lend themselves really well for that, and you can kind of create a community of faculty working out of that building even if they were from various departments across campus,” Phillips said.
The deficiency in offices, especially for new faculty, has reached a point of urgency since Biola continually adds new faculty members but is out of places to put them. After accounting for retired faculty, it is an average net gain of one to five people each year, said Greg Balsano, vice president of university services.
“We’ve kind of used Metzger [Hall] like temporary cubicles, which really aren’t very good for faculty, and it’s not necessarily a good introduction to Biola to have to be in a cubicle. So having Emerson will give them a more permanent-looking office with an actual door and walls and such,” Balsano said.
A 14-room section of Sigma that has a separate entrance will become office space during the 2014-2015 year to bridge the gap until Emerson is available, Phillips said. Ideally, Emerson will be ready for office use by the fall 2015 semester. However, this could change depending on the extent of necessary renovations.
“We’re out of space now. There was one potentially empty office in the whole campus, and we have at least five new faculty coming in [next year],” Balsano said.
Although closing Emerson means losing 107 beds for on-campus male students, Biola is still gaining 338 beds with the opening of the new dorm, known as North Hall. Construction on the new dorm, which will have space for 338 students, begins in April and is set to be finished by June 2015 and open for the fall 2015 semester, Phillips said.
There is little concern about the loss of dorm space when Emerson closes, as the undergraduate student population is only budgeted to grow by one percent next year, Balsano said. In the ongoing balancing act to provide sufficient space for classes, offices and students on the 95-acre main campus, residence halls are not an issue at the moment.
A SMOOTH TRANSITION
Emerson will spend one more year as a residence hall, allowing current residents to return for the 2014-2015 school year, Balsano said.
“We didn’t want to pull Emerson offline that quickly … we thought we can make that happen more gradually,” Balsano explained.
Current Emerson residents who wish to return for their dorm’s final year will be guaranteed spots, similar to how the housing department allows students in other dorms the option to choose their same room during selection, explained Emerson resident director Kevin Cram. Students who live in Emerson its final year and want on-campus housing for the 2015-2016 academic year can then choose a spot in North Hall.
Built in 1959 and notable for its lack of air conditioning, Emerson is the oldest dorm on campus. However, adjustments will be made to the building before it transitions over into offices.
An elevator needs to be added to make the second floor more accessible, which may cost $100,000-$150,000, Phillips said. Additionally, Emerson will be retrofitted for air conditioning. Facilities Management has received preliminary estimates of $600,000-$1 million for the extensive process of setting up air conditioning in the building.
As the project moves forward, more renovations may be needed. However, the funds for renovations as planned — currently estimated at a minimum of $700,000 — would most likely come out of surplus money in the university’s budget, said Michael Pierce, vice president of business and financial affairs. A surplus of approximately $3 million total from the current and next academic years will be necessary to cover the current minimum estimate, since only 25 percent of a surplus can be used for building projects.
“A $700,000 piece of capital is not overwhelmingly large; it’s significant, but it’s probably something that we could handle. More likely, if we are being really good stewards, we could accumulate a portion of it out of this year’s surplus, if we have one, not just depend upon having it the following year,” Pierce said.
Though there is no guarantee that the university will have a surplus in the budget, the past four years have yielded surpluses ranging from $6-$15 million, Pierce said. The university uses extra money for various funds, including scholarships, campus improvements and a cushion against tuition increases. Pierce predicted this year will yield a surplus, though he expects it to be below $6 million.
