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Campus News
Bluefield College and Town of Bluefield Move Forward with Plans for New
Campus and Community Center (February 15, 2008)
Bluefield College and the Town of Bluefield, Virginia, are one step closer to breaking ground on a new multi-million dollar Campus and Community Center.
During a press conference on the BC campus, Friday, February 15, leaders from both the town and the school announced the successful completion of preliminary discussions and plans between the two
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President David Olive (center), Mayor
Jimmy Jones (right), and BC Chairman
of the Board Dan Grabeel share the
latest news with the media about the Campus and Community Center.
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Bluefield College and Bluefield,
Virginia's proposed Campus
and Community Center.
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parties and the approval from both with that accord to move forward with fundraising for the project.
Bluefield College president, Dr. David Olive, and town mayor, Jimmy Jones, formally revealed the latest development in the public-private coop designed to bring a facility to Bluefield, Virginia, that will serve the recreational needs of both BC students and the Bluefield community at-large.
"This is a great day for the greater Bluefield community," Dr. Olive told the media and other town and gown officials assembled for the press conference. "Two separate entities -- one private and the other public -- each looking at separate projects, deciding that more could be accomplished together than working independently of one another."
During a special called session on February 9, Bluefield College's Board of Trustees approved a resolution that not only gave the school's administration the go-ahead to move forward with fundraising for the Center, but also provided the authorization for BC officials to partner with the Town in the development of the final design for the facility and an operating and lease agreement. The Town approved a similar decision two weeks earlier.
“This is a great day for me because I grew up in Bluefield and attended Graham High School and Bluefield College,” said Dr. Dan Grabeel, chairman of the BC Board of Trustees. “This is something great for the town and for the college. That’s why the Board voted to move forward with this project.”
The college and the town began collaborative discussions about a proposed Campus and Community Center in the fall of 2006. Since then, the two parties have considered site proposals, discussed facility specifications, analyzed funding and construction plans, and developed architectural renderings.
“This is a momentous day,” Mayor Jones said about the announcement to move forward. “I don’t think people will realize the impact of this facility until it is actually built. For a public sector and a private entity to come together and partner on a project like this says a lot. It’s just a win-win situation.”
Designed by the award-winning architects from Thompson and Litton in Tazewell, Virginia, the new Campus and Community Center will sit on the Bluefield College campus, on the corner portion of land where the BC Dome currently resides, just east of Rish (residence) Hall.
The facility -- a $14 million structure designed to meet the fitness, exercise and sport activities of both the campus and the community -- will house a 1,000-seat intercollegiate competition gymnasium and three community recreation gyms, which when combined can form a 32,000 square-foot convention hall. The building, a projected total 82,000 square feet, will also feature a fitness center, senior center, student center, conference rooms, athletic training rooms, and walking tracks.
“This is going to be a state-of-the-art facility,” said BC Dean of Students Carrie Camden. “I don’t think there will be a facility comparable to this in the area. This is a project and a facility that will bond this college and the community together for a long, long time.”
While most of the Center’s space will be shared between the town and the school, exclusive space will be available to each party. The amenities, Dr. Olive said, will not compete, but only complement what is currently available in the area.
"I get excited thinking about all the wonderful possibilities a facility such as this will provide to our community," the president said. "This collaborative effort best demonstrates the strength of this community -- the vision, the optimism, the can-do spirit -- and speaks to the belief we have in ourselves that we can make this dream a reality."
Construction on the Campus and Community Center, officials project, will begin in about a year, sooner or later depending on the progress of fundraising. Plans are to complete the $14 million building debt-free with donations from many different constituencies.
“This is an ambitious project,” said Dr. Steve Spangler, BC’s vice president for advancement. “But, when this college was only an idea in 1919, the people of this area demonstrated financially and otherwise they could take on an exciting ambitious project and see it successfully through. They did it, and we can and will, as well. It will take the efforts of foundations and firms, businesses and believers, friends and alumni from near and far to see this project through, but the community needs this facility. Bluefield College needs this facility, and future generations depend on us to provide this facility.”
Dr. Spangler added that the new Campus and Community Center is a significant part of Bluefield College's current capital campaign, the school's first since 1997, which is designed to bring new and improved facilities to campus, scholarship funds to students, and growth in the college's endowment.
Other key leaders recognized during the press conference who facilitated the plans, discussions and progress of the Campus and Community Center included the town’s Mike Watson, assistant town manager; and BC’s Jerold Meadows, vice president for administration and finance; Ruth Blankenship, associate vice president for advancement; and Dr. Charles Warren, former interim president.
“I’ve been with the Town of Bluefield since 1996, and there hasn’t been a day go by that we don’t have someone say to us that we need a place for our kids to go for recreation,” Day said. “I’m elated and proud to be a part of this project.”
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