January 18, 201015 yr If this pans out it will be a surprise. We used to joke about Diagnostic Hybrids all the time because the university president, whoever that was at the time (either Glidden or McDavis), used to bring it up in almost every pep talk. Nobody ever met any of these Diagnostic Hybrids people or knew where the company was physically located.
April 3, 201015 yr OU requests student help for Oasis renovation plan, offers prize money Kristina Hauptmann, Staff Writer 3/30/2010 - 2:36:00 AM After sitting fallow for more than three years, The Oasis might finally get its chance at a makeover. Ohio University's Center for Entrepreneurship will host an eight-week competition for undergraduate students to create a possible business plan for the building, which closed in November 2006 and has seen no renovations since. The winning team will receive a $10,000 prize. Second and third place teams will receive $5,000 and $3,000, respectively. The OU Foundation bought the property in April 2002. While open, The Oasis was a restaurant offering grilled food, beverages and snacks. FULL ARTICLE: http://thepost.ohiou.edu/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=31076&SectionID=1&SubSectionID=2&S=1
September 9, 201014 yr OU unveils its new Academic & Research Center Monday, May 10, 2010 By Athens News Staff Ohio University's Academic & Research Center honored both its donors and the OU community this weekend at the new building's grand opening. The center, located on West Green, is a state-of-the-art, 89,000-square-foot space that was built to promote collaborative and interdisciplinary learning and research between OU's Russ College of Engineering and its College of Osteopathic Medicine. The center connects to both colleges' buildings. The $34.5 million center is one of the few buildings on campus that was built almost entirely with private support. The Osteopathic Heritage Foundation and Charles R. and Marilyn Y. Stuckey were the building's two biggest donors, contributing $10 million and $5 million to the project, respectively. Full article: http://www.athensnews.com/ohio/article-31103-ou-unveils-its-new-academic-research-center.html More about the center from the OU website: http://www.ohio.edu/engineering/about/facility.cfm
September 9, 201014 yr OU considering how best to update dorms Friday, September 3, 2010 By Encarnacion Pyle THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH ATHENS, OHIO -- It would cost Ohio University about $278 million less to enter into a joint venture with private developers to improve the school's aging residence halls, but students would pay more, according to a proposal. Campus trustees heard a presentation from a facility-planning firm yesterday as part of an effort to create a 10-year plan for renovating or replacing all on-campus housing. The board considered two options: having OU doing the dorm makeovers itself using straight debt, or partnering with private developers to replace some of the traditional dorm-style housing with suite-style units. To meet current needs, the consultants recommended that OU boost the total number of beds to 8,400 and renovate or replace 68 percent of housing. Ohio University would have to pay about $437 million if it did all the work itself, according to the report. Private developers would have to come up with roughly $167 million if they financed the new construction. The university still would be responsible for $159 million to pay for renovations and demolition of the existing residence halls, the report says. Full article: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/09/03/ou-considering-how-best-to-update-dorms.html?sid=101
October 5, 201014 yr UE breaks ground on new apartments By David DeWitt, The Athens News Monday, August 30, 2010 The University Estates development complex off of Ohio Rt. 682 and Armitage Road is growing, with developers launching construction of The Reserve at the Falls apartment complex during a groundbreaking ceremony last Wednesday. The new 140-unit complex will consist of 10 buildings and feature a number of amenities, said developer Gary Gitlitz. He said that one-, two- and three-bedroom luxury apartments will be available. The UE development currently has a number of condominiums and a townhome complex, as well as a neighborhood of houses. The apartment buildings will be constructed simultaneously and are projected to open for tenants by spring 2011, with the whole complex expected to be finished by September of that year. Full article: http://www.athensnews.com/ohio/article-31942-ue-breaks-ground-on-new-apartments.html
July 19, 201113 yr Stewart Street has seen a couple pretty high density apartment buildings go up within the last 2 years. The entire west side (the side closer to Court Street) of the street is now 3 or 4 story multi-unit buildings. The other side of the street has a few big, new apartment buildings; still quite a few houses on that side that could be razed to accommodate more buildup.
July 20, 201113 yr Good to hear! My youngest sister is planning to attend OU next year so I should be spending more time in Athens these next few years.
November 22, 201113 yr A pair of articles over the weekend from the Columbus Dispatch about some future Ohio University projects: DISPATCH: Crumbling Ohio University campus needs $2.5 billion fix - School officials say more money must be earmarked for maintenance and rehabbing DISPATCH: Trustees OK pair of OU projects - Work will total nearly $1 billion over next 6 years, improve facilities More about the OU Trustees decision from The Athens News: Trustees OK ambitious building, maintenance agenda By Jim Phillips, The Athens News Sunday, November 20, 2011 The Ohio University Board of Trustees on Friday approved a six-year capital plan that calls for a significant boost in how much the university will be spending to keep its buildings and other facilities in good shape. It also got a look at a longer-term plan that calls for continued increased spending in this area. OU President Roderick McDavis laughingly emphasized after the board meeting that a campus power outage that struck during the meeting – and that left the Trustees following their printed agendas first with flashlights, and later with electric lanterns – was not deliberately planned to dramatize the issue of the university's crumbling infrastructure. With or without the temporary blackout, however, the Trustees appeared to take seriously the need to put more money into upkeep. The six-year plan they approved Friday calls for spending $977.5 million in this area over that period; a proposed 20-year plan calls for spending more than $2.5 billion to fix up and rehab dorms, classroom buildings, utilities and other campus fixtures. Much of the money will be borrowed, though OU officials acknowledged that some may have to come from increased tuition and fees. (. . .) AMONG THE FIRST PROJECTS to be addressed in the university's new campaign to get itself in better physical shape is the long-awaited transformation of the old Baker Center and current RTV building into the new home of the Scripps College of Communication (with the tentative name Schoonover Center for Communication). The two-phase project is expected to take about 18 months to complete. If all goes well, he said, it could be done sometime in early 2014. Another major rehab project that OU is looking at is the replacement of all 15 of its New South Green dormitories. MORE: http://www.athensnews.com/ohio/article-35421-trustees-ok-ambitious-building-maintenance-agenda.html
September 25, 201212 yr OU set to demolish ‘haunted’ ward of the Ridges By Jim Phillips for the Columbus Dispatch Saturday, September 22, 2012 - 8:25 AM ATHENS, Ohio — Ohio University has announced plans to tear down an 88-year-old building before the end of October, but preservationists in this southeastern Ohio town are still hoping to persuade the school to change its mind. The vacant building - known as Ridges Building 26 or the old Beacon School - was built as the tuberculosis ward at the state mental hospital that operated under various names for more than a century on what is now the university's Ridges property. It sits near a cemetery, and OU student folklore holds that it's haunted. The brick building was already vacant when the Ohio Department of Mental Health turned the buildings at the Ridges over to the university in the late 1980s. OU officials say it's in great disrepair and is a target for curiosity-seekers and vandals. READ MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/09/22/ou-set-to-demolish-haunted-ward-of-the-ridges.html
September 25, 201212 yr MORE ABOUT THE RIDGES BUILDING DEMOLITION: Athens News: OU says old building has been 'attractive nuisance' AthensOhioToday: Building at The Ridges to be demolished by Halloween - OU cites vandalism, safety concerns as reason for raising
September 26, 201212 yr I went in there. It's curious and neat to see, but it's also useless because it's nowhere close to being up to code. And it's not so special that it absolutely has to be saved. The other buildings that they do use are pretty nice, so the site has been well-preserved overall. Attractive nuisance sounds right. People used to break in for no real reason other than to say, "I broke into the Ridges!"
December 4, 201212 yr The Ohio University Board of Trustees was updated last month about OU's long-term campus construction and maintenance plan, plus the many individual construction projects arising from that plan. This plan was previously mentioned here in this thread. More about this from the news sources linked below: Columbus Dispatch: Ohio University improving all dorms, many academic buildings Athens News: OU Trustees to get update on all that construction AthensOhioToday: OU Trustees okay Galbreath Chapel, other building projects
October 16, 20159 yr Old Athens insane asylum to get new life as part of Ohio University By Mary Mogan Edwards, The Columbus Dispatch Thursday, October 15, 2015 - 6:01 AM The imposing cluster of Victorian-era buildings, set atop a hill across from Ohio University’s Athens campus, long has been noted for a colorful past. Now, it appears to have a promising future, as well. The Ridges is a 700-acre tract and complex of historic buildings that once housed the Athens Insane Asylum. It still inspires campus tales of haunting, even as it also is the setting for picnics and hikes. A few buildings are renovated and occupied. Preservationists have worried for decades that the unused buildings could be torn down. On Friday, university trustees will vote on a plan that suggests the Ridges not only should be preserved, but that renovated buildings and grounds, plus new buildings, could become a major expansion of the OU campus. There’s no timeline for redevelopment and no funding identified, but the so-called Ridges Framework Plan is seen as good news to those who have pushed to preserve the site. MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/10/15/old-asylum-to-get-new-life.html
October 16, 20159 yr Below is a photo of an existing building at The Ridges that was previously renovated and a location map for The Ridges from the above linked article:
October 16, 20159 yr More about the Ridges Framework Plan from The Athens News: The Ridges, lofty plans: OU’s plan suggests some buildings are doomed By Conor Morris, The Athens News October 14, 2015 Ohio University is seeking approval of a framework plan that will guide the university in its future development of The Ridges, although action on the plan may take years or even decades to achieve, and funds are limited. Some long-term recommendations in the plan include two new bridges built across the Hocking River; a possible Baker University Center-esque building scaling the hillside; space for solar panels and an “eco village.” Based on the framework plan, it’s clear that at least two buildings probably will be demolished on the historic Ridges campus. Buildings 19 and 20 are highlighted in the Ridges Framework Plan, set for approval by the OU Board of Trustees this Friday, as “non-contributing” buildings and likely will be demolished eventually to make way for new development. Building 19 was built in 1973 and currently is used by the Voinovich School; Building 20 was built in 1949 and has no current use. MORE: http://www.athensnews.com/news/campus/the-ridges-lofty-plans/article_a6d5c0e2-729a-11e5-8506-2f73b36a4193.html In the below photo from the linked article: Building 20 is to the left; Building 19 is to the right:
October 16, 20159 yr I hope buildings 19 and 20 are demolished--they detract from the main Kirkenbride building.
October 16, 20159 yr There were active offices in those buildings when I was at OU and regularly attended classes/parties in the main Ridges building, but that was more than 10 years ago now. Of course we explored the sealed-off sections of the building...it was always fun to scare the girls.
October 25, 20159 yr Columbus firm to manage new off-campus student housing at Ohio University Columbus-based Homestead U Management will expand its student housing portfolio in Athens next summer in conjunction with an apartment project under construction. California-based Columbus Pacific Properties has the 232-bed River Gate student housing project on Ohio University’s South Green under construction next to three other properties Homestead U has managed for the developer during the last three years. More below: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2015/10/23/columbus-firm-to-manage-new-off-campus-student.html "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
December 14, 20159 yr Some work for the master plan here. You can get a good feel for what they are trying to do by looking at some of the diagrams included. https://www.ohio.edu/master-plan/upload/CMP_CampusAnalysisSummary.pdf Sidenote, if you haven't been in Athens recently, you wouldn't recognize South Green drive from Richland down towards South Green. Starting at Peden Stadium, I would imagine that work will began soon on a 5.5 million dollar Academic Center being built in the endzone of the stadium. Moving further down the road, you have the new Indoor Practice Facility between Peden and Ping. Then past ping on the opposite side, you have a new set of dorms (across the corner from ping and the science building (Think its called Seigfried?) I like it. That new academic center in the endzone will fit in well.
December 14, 20159 yr I see that they renamed the music building after former President Glidden, who somehow became a university president after having been a music major.
January 23, 20169 yr Some work for the master plan here. You can get a good feel for what they are trying to do by looking at some of the diagrams included. https://www.ohio.edu/master-plan/upload/CMP_CampusAnalysisSummary.pdf Sidenote, if you haven't been in Athens recently, you wouldn't recognize South Green drive from Richland down towards South Green. Starting at Peden Stadium, I would imagine that work will began soon on a 5.5 million dollar Academic Center being built in the endzone of the stadium. Moving further down the road, you have the new Indoor Practice Facility between Peden and Ping. Then past ping on the opposite side, you have a new set of dorms (across the corner from ping and the science building (Think its called Seigfried?) I like it. That new academic center in the endzone will fit in well. Yeah, I haven't visited since Halloween 2008, so it would be interesting to see. While I was there, lots of big projects were underway like the new Student Union (had just opened) and renovated Radio-TV/Baker Center building for Scripps. I just hope Court Street looks the same. If it ain't broke, don't fix it! It sounds like it's a still big party school. I don't think OU will ever change. It's a really unique school in that regard. From the Student Life Issues listed in that report: • Drinking Culture • Too much emphasis on “don’t", not enough on responsibility • Cap Enrollment • Healthy dinning hall food would be nice • Convo center needs digital sign in front for sports/ events promo • Light and noise pollution • Sexual assailants still normalized • Conflict between having students recreate in city v. on campus • Make juniors live on campus • O.U. takes no responsibility for educating students to be good citizens. OU does not care, students do not care, landlords don't care together they may destroy the town. • Trash https://www.ohio.edu/master-plan/upload/CMP_CampusAnalysisSummary.pdf
January 30, 20169 yr Court Street hasn't really changed. Some businesses have come and gone, but it still has the same feel. Definitely still a party school and personally I don't want that to change. As Matt Lauer once said, Athens and Ohio University is the quintessential college town. One thing that was never mentioned in this thread was the fire that knocked out a good portion of Union Street in the Uptown area a year and a half ago. The popular brewery Jackie O's got hit along with the other businesses around there. There has been talk of eliminating a lane of traffic there to allow for expanded streetscape. That'd be very cool for Jackie O's in particular. They've talked about a similar idea for Court. That could be very cool...
February 22, 20169 yr Plan to demolish historic building on Ohio University campus stirs up preservation fight By Mary Beth Lane, The Columbus Dispatch Tuesday, February 16, 2016 - 6:19 AM ATHENS, Ohio — Ohio University's plan to demolish a 1911 building on the National Register of Historic Places has touched off a fight with historic preservationists and others who say the unique architectural character of the campus and uptown Athens is in peril. ... The brick building currently known as the President Street Academic Center and previously as Science Hall is especially significant because Ohio architect Frank L. Packard designed it. The university's board of trustees approved the $1.5 million demolition last month, with the building scheduled to come down over the summer. The site would then be used for a new third building for the university's College of Business, which is currently housed in Copeland Hall at S. Court and President streets and is expanding into the former Computer Services Center next door. Together, the three buildings would make up the business college block of campus. Today's demands, including a near doubling in the last six years in undergraduate and graduate business programs and the need for conference-style rooms that can be easily configured for students to work in groups, require a new building, said business college Dean Hugh Sherman. The new building is estimated to cost $15.2 million. Renovating the 1911 building to meet the requirements of the business college would cost significantly more (say university officials). There is no construction timetable yet. Sherman said he planned to line up a major donor within three years willing to commit at least $10 million to the project before moving forward with construction. The lack of a construction timetable is all the more reason to hold off demolishing the building until university officials can consult with a professional architect with experience in historic preservation and adaptive reuse to learn what alternatives there are, said Tom O'Grady, executive director of the Athens County Historical Society & Museum. MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2016/02/16/demolition-plan-stirs-up-fight-over-historic-preservation-at-ohio-university.html
February 22, 20169 yr The Athens Messenger has more articles about the OU plan to demolish the President Street Academic Center building: - (1-12-16) http://www.athensmessenger.com/news/ou-seeks-approval-from-board-to-raze-president-street-academic/article_6f8a2cd2-db05-5e91-8867-8d44e8f9c118.html - (1-20-16) http://www.athensmessenger.com/news/council-mayor-ask-ou-board-to-reconsider-razing-of-psac/article_adb270bc-a1d4-5e1a-8590-c38f0911df68.html - (1-23-16) http://www.athensmessenger.com/news/ou-trustees-approve-demolition-of-academic-center/article_00aeae0e-2216-5f36-b5a0-018632e7fe0f.html - (2-08-16) http://www.athensmessenger.com/comment/letters_to_the_editor/community-speaks-out-against-psac-decision/article_23067f21-70d4-54ca-95b2-7263cfa3cd12.html
August 10, 20168 yr Ohio University approves plan to create new use for president's mansion By Mary Mogan Edwards, The Columbus Dispatch Saturday, March 19, 2016 - 6:02 AM The campus mansion that served as the home of Ohio University's presidents for decades won't house any future presidents. The university's Board of Trustees approved a campus master plan on March 11 that calls for the home at 29 Park Place to be renovated and dedicated to yet-unspecified student uses. Current President Roderick J. McDavis and his wife, Deborah, moved out of the house a year ago. They had complained that the 116-year-old home, last renovated in 1995, was infested with bats, and at one point Mrs. McDavis broke her foot while dodging a bat. The house sits in the older part of the campus, across the street from the main library. ... A university statement at the time of the move in 2015, said officials had been considering the future of the Park Place house, noting that the construction of Baker University Center and other building changes had shifted the center of campus. It said the off-campus home to which the McDavises were moving, at 31 Coventry Lane, was well suited for a president's residence, particularly to serve as "a facility to host official functions, particularly those relating to alumni outreach and donor relations." Students protested the lease of the home, owned by real-estate developer and OU donor John Wharton. The university had planned to buy the house at 31 Coventry Lane for $1.2 million, but the deal became more controversial when a public-records request by a local newspaper revealed that Wharton had promised to finish paying one donation pledge and make an additional donation once the sale was complete. ... The university's lease on the house runs through June 2017, the date when McDavis has announced he will retire. MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2016/03/19/ohio-university-approves-plan-to-create-new-use-for-presidents-mansion.html
August 10, 20168 yr State tax credits were recently issued for the renovation of three fire-damaged buildings at 16 West Union Street in Downtown Athens: From https://development.ohio.gov/files/media/pressrelease/2016.6.28%20-%20Release%20-%20Ohio%20Historic%20Preservation%20Tax%20Credit%20Round%2016.pdf 16 West Union (Athens, Athens County) Total Project Cost: $2,396,864 Total Tax Credit: $250,000 Address: 16 West Union Street, 45701 This project will involve the rehabilitation and reconstruction of buildings damaged in a 2014 fire in downtown Athens. The first floor will be returned to commercial uses with a restaurant as tenant, while the upper floor will include four apartments with four bedrooms each to house a total of 16 tenants.
March 11, 20196 yr New $65 million HCOM building proposed on Union St. https://www.ohio.edu/medicine/about/initiatives/new-athens-facilities/facilities.cfm
November 12, 20213 yr Historic Scott Quad, which I always thought was one of the more interesting buildings at OU, will see the wrecking ball: https://www.thepostathens.com/article/2021/11/scott-quad-demolition-ohio-university-dorm-meanings-of-place
March 30, 20232 yr Ohio University partners to spend $220 million on housing, mixed-use spaces at The Ridges “After years of debate and discussion, the historic Athens Lunatic Asylum could soon be reimagined into a $220 million mixed-use development project under a new plan proposed by Ohio University. Now known as The Ridges, a plan for the former mental health hospital would include spaces for housing, commercial, academic and recreational uses. The project has been in the works for a while, and a finished development could take up to a decade to complete. But when finished, it would be the largest non-student housing development in Athens' history with more than 700 units. Ohio University has two development partners for The Ridges project: Buckeye Hills Regional Council, a Marietta-based consortium of southeastern Ohio governments focused on economic development in Ohio's Appalachian region, and Community Building Partners, a program arm of Columbus-based nonprofit economic development consultants Praxia Partners.“ https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/education/2023/03/30/ohio-university-wants-to-spend-220-million-to-reimagine-the-ridges/69927041007/
May 10, 20232 yr Just now, Lazarus said: Athens has a DORA. What could possibly go wrong? Smart to make it during summer
May 10, 20232 yr 2 hours ago, Lazarus said: Athens has a DORA. What could possibly go wrong? Well it's a college town so the whole city is a DORA during the school year whether they want it to be or not.
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