Koury business center to become reality in 2005

60,000 square-foot center will be built on intramural fields, says dean of Love School of Business

Jessica Patchett / Editor-in-Chief

Construction of the new 60,000 square-foot Ernest A. Koury Sr. Business Center, which will be located on O’Kelly Avenue north of McMichael science center, will begin no later than March 2005, said John Burbridge, dean of the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business. The project will be underway in time for Elon to celebrate the building’s groundbreaking with 2005 spring convocation speaker Sen. John Glenn in April and will be completed by fall 2006.

The building will house faculty offices, a dean suite, student break-out rooms, a “digital lecture hall” and 20 classrooms – more than enough to house the business program, Burbridge said.

“This is a building that’s not just for the business school, but for all of Elon,” Burbridge said, referring to additional classroom space, student study rooms and new facilities other departments may utilize.

Elon administrators included the project plans in a presentation to visiting deans in the business school’s quest for accreditation by The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. The three deans who visited this Sunday through Wednesday will use their impressions of the business school’s progress to make a decision regarding accreditation by April.

Schematic drawings, plans that precede architectural designs, are near completion, according to Gerald Whittington, vice president for business, finance and technology. Spillman-Farmer and Associates, the architecture firm responsible for Academic Pavilion houses, will have construction drawings for the business center completed this summer. After Elon secures a contractor late this summer, groundbreaking of the business center will depend on fundraising.

“We have raised $7 million so far. We have $2.5 million to go,” Burbridge said. If all $9.5 million needed for the business center is collected before March 2005, construction may begin sooner, Whittington said.

Crews have begun preparing the Elon Homes for Children site for relocation of the intramural fields that will be closed upon the commencement of business center construction, said Neil Bromilow, director of construction management at Elon.

When construction begins on the center in spring 2005, contractors will close only one field, leaving ample playing space for students, according to Whittington.

A transportation committee is meeting in regards to the relocation of parking currently available next to McMichael on O’Kelly Avenue. The committee is considering potential transportation alternatives such as a comprehensive tram system to local apartment complexes. Student input regarding such proposals will be sought through the Student Government Association, Residence Life and other campus organizations through the coming months, according to Whittington.

In the future, Elon officials plan to re-route visiting traffic through what will become a north entrance to campus, highlighting the Greek Courts and Moseley Center to the right of incoming traffic and the Koury Business and McMichael Science Centers to the left. Admissions and University Relations materials will direct prospective students and university guests from one of the local interstates or highways to the Elon by-pass, currently under construction. The university plans to discourage drivers from exiting the by-pass near undeveloped west campus, the most direct route for drivers to reach the university, and encourage visitors to enter campus through what will be the “newest” section of campus, according to Dan Anderson, director of university relations.

“The building is reminiscent of the Academic Village buildings, but has many of the same elements of the older buildings on the campus, too: window treatment, colonnades, and the type of brick,” Whittington said, referring to the architectural concept Elon’s committee for the business center approved. 

“This building will certainly look like it belongs on this campus as all of the others we have built over the last decade have.”

Jeff Heyer / Photographer

The business center (center) will house more than 20 classrooms of different formats, a dean’s suite and faculty offices. Four other buildings are still in the discussion stage and will not be funded in any part by the $9.5 million needed for the main buliding. The other buildings could house dining, residence halls or additional office space.