Travis Wunsch, assistant to the athletic director for athletic operations, repairs bleachers in the Morrow Field House on Slippery Rock University campus in preparation for a basketball game on the first day of SRU's spring semester on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle

Slippery Rock University is considering four separate renovations of campus buildings in coming years at a total cost of nearly $120 million.

SRU’s council of trustees is submitting funding requests for four renovation projects to the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.

A memorandum on the capital projects sent by Scott Albert, vice president for facilities and sustainability, to Carrie Birckbichler, vice president for finance and administration, was included in the trustees’ capital budget submission plan for 2025-26. It shows details and dollar amounts for the specific projects. The council of trustees approved submitting requests to PASSHE at its March 21 meeting.

For reference, SRU’s 2024-25 budget expenditures was $164 million.

The SRU project funding requests sent to PASSHE asks for funding to be freed up over the course of the next five years rather than all at once.

The biggest proposed project is a renovation of the Morrow Field House. The field house holds locker rooms, administrative offices for the athletic department and various athletic facilities.

The proposed Morrow Field House Project’s estimated cost is $51.2 million.

The memorandum said the field house has not received any significant renovation since its construction in 1959, aside from smaller fixes like window replacements and structural repairs to the swimming pool.

“The locker rooms are in poor condition and are not fully ADA compliant, the building HVAC and plumbing systems are at the end of their useful lives, the indoor and outdoor track surfaces are starting to fail, and many of the finishes are original to the construction of the building in 1959,” the memorandum read.

Of the proposed investment of $51.2 million, about 38% will address life cycle maintenance and regulatory compliance, and the remaining 62% will address space obsolescence associated with “inefficient space layouts and pedagogical changes.”

The memorandum also said PASSHE has currently approved release of $45.8 million of state funding between 2025-26 and 2027-28.

A proposed renovation of the McKay Education Building, which was built in 1929 and houses the college of education, would cost around $28.2 million.

“The building was constructed in 1929 and was designed and utilized as a K-12 facility. As a result, the classroom and office layout is not conducive to the academic needs of higher education. Student surveys consistently indicate that the existing state of McKay is inadequate for learning and in need of renovations. These renovations will facilitate the university's academic mission utilizing a modern approach to pedagogy, and perform upgrades to fire and life safety systems that are well beyond their 30-year life cycle,” the memorandum said.

SRU is requesting project funds be released by PASSHE for the McKay project in 2029-30.

The Eisenberg Classroom Building, home to SRU’s college of business, would see a renovation price tag of $24.3 million.

Built in 1969, Eisenberg has only received minor renovations in recent years. The memorandum said many classrooms and offices still contain original cosmetic finishes that are over 40 years old and the office suites are “inefficiently configured.” The building also needs new vestibules added to the north and south sides to eliminate the wind tunnel effect that occurs every time someone enters or exits the building.

“Due to the projected time frame of the renovations, we are now projecting this project to be a total building renovation,” the memorandum said.

The university is also proposing a heating plant renovation, saying campus heating plant boilers are approaching the end of their useful lives. The project would replace boilers that are over 50 years old. This would cost an estimated $15.9 million.

SRU is requesting project funds for the Eisenberg and heating plant renovations be released by PASSHE for 2030-31.