Officials will break ground Oct. 15 to begin renovations to Glass Hall on the Missouri State University campus. In June, the Board of Governors authorized the issuance of bonds to construct the planned addition, renovations and improvements to the building, which houses the College of Business.
“We’re just really excited about the project,” said Stephanie Bryant, Dean of the College of Business at Missouri State University. “Our enrollment has really gone through the roof and so being able to have world class facilities for our business students will really be a great enhancement.”
A committee was formed in 2013 to begin planning to renovate and expand the physical space of Glass Hall, according to the College of Business webpage.
“I think in terms of benefiting the students we’ll have lots of really awesome things that we don’t have now,” Bryant said.
The current facility is 173,000 sq. feet. The renovation will add another 37,000 sq. feet to the building’s east end. That will include a financial trading lab, marketing and sales labs, team meeting rooms, mock interview space and new technology.
“One of the things I hear a lot is people get kind of lost in Glass Hall and so we’ll have technology that will help people find their way around more easily,” said Bryant.
Bryant also said students will have technology that will enable them to reserve rooms for meeting space to work on projects.
“The renovation of Glass Hall, which is a $25 to 28 million project, is going to be paid in three ways,” MSU President Clif Smart told KSMU in June.
The first way will be from private gifts, with over $5 million being raised so far.
Second, according to Bryant, “we have a fee that was put in for the College of Business students for upper level classes and we put that fee in about three years ago and that fee is funding a large portion of this.”
“Third,” Smart says, “reserved funds that both the College of Business has and the provost has and the president has.”
Smart added that when done, the university anticipates an additional $20,000 cost for services at the building, such as custodial, grounds and utilities.
“We hope to have a grand opening for fall of 2017,” said Bryant.