Offices leaving fated Ordway

Ater the Board of Regents approved the demolition of Ordway Hall in early December, money still has not been found to finance the costly renovations that would preserve the historic building.

The motion to demolish the 81-year-old building, home to the Student Affairs offices passed with a vote of 8-1 under the condition that the building would not be destroyed if money for the necessary upgrades should arrive.

Kim Oatman, chief facilities officer for Facilities Management, estimated in December the cost of the renovations to be approximately $9 million. Murray State and those wishing to preserve Ordway have only until June to gather these funds as per the stipulation.

Oatman said the demolition design plans are currently being developed and the demolition is not actually scheduled for June although it could occur in that time frame.

“We will not have an actual schedule until we finalize the design and bid documents in the spring,” he said.

“It’s kind of a domino effect to get everyone moved out and in the right place.”

He said the current budget for the demolition of the hall is $600,000 although that budget has also not been finalized.

The decision of either renovating or destroying Ordway Hall became more pressing after a study by the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education which was hired to survey 56 percent of the buildings at Murray State was released and found the hall to violate current safety standards.

Large amounts of asbestos, collected water leak damage and an overall weak structure all are all problems facing the hall.

It was the CPE’s recommendation that building be torn down, otherwise, its study estimated in five to 10 years the building may collapse on its own.

Don Robertson, vice president of Student Affairs, said they are in the process of relocating the offices in Ordway to new locations around campus. He said the Student Affairs office will be moving to the fourth floor of Wells Hall hopefully by summer, that floor is currently occupied by the West Kentucky Educational Cooperative.

“I think the goal is to have West Kentucky co-op out and into the old Developmental Outreach office by the end of the semester,” Robertson said. “It’s kind of a domino effect to get everyone moved out and in the right place.”

As of yet, no plans have been officially formalized for the space after Ordway’s demolition.

Oatman said there are a couple of options on the table for the use of the area, but nothing is certain.

“We anticipate some sort of building memorial close to that area that will incorporate some of the architectural elements we plan to save from the original structure,” he said. “It is possible that this could become a part of a public green space, but no final plans have been determined.”

Story by Ben Manhanke, Staff writer.