Story by Lindsey Coleman, News Editor
Photo by Nick Bohannon/The News
At the March 9 quarterly Board of Regents meeting, the board unanimously voted to accept the $2 million “repair and restore” model recommended by the Finance and Building and Grounds committees for J.H. Richmond Hall.
The total budget for the project is in the range of $12 million dollars, but insurance is expected to cover a large amount of the cost. Director of Communications, Shawn Touney, said $2 million was allotted for energy-efficiency, long-term maintenance, revenue factors and any structural changes, which will be funded by existing housing reserves.
During a special meeting of the Finance and Building and Grounds committees on March 8, representatives from Luckett & Farley, the engineering and architecture firm from Louisville, Kentucky that designed the original structure of Richmond Hall, gave a presentation about four possible avenues, which ranged from $9 to $16 million in cost and included the options of demolition, repair, restoration and repurposing. The joint committees unanimously recommended the repair and restore options.
The President and CEO of Luckett and Farley, Aric Andrew, and architect John Whitney surmised that the building could be broken into three parts: areas of little visible damage, demolition with structure still intact and entire demolition.
To determine the status of the building, Luckett & Farley was employed by Murray State to conduct a structural analysis of J. H. Richmond and provide suggestions moving forward. Architects and mechanical, electrical, structural and plumbing engineers walked through the building to assess the condition of Richmond.
“We’ve determined that depending where you are in the building, there are some areas that are in reasonably good condition, but there are others that need to be significantly selectively demolished before using again,” Whitney said.
After inspection, Whitney said the explosion area is basically gone and will have to be rebuilt. The areas adjacent to it will be stripped down to the metal studs and the concrete. All drywall and mechanical and electrical systems will be replaced. In the area that shows little visible damage, they will remove the ceiling, lighting, flooring and drywall where there is water damage. Mechanical, electrical and plumbing facilities will be removed there also, but they will be inspected and used again if found to be in good condition. The elevator in Richmond will have to be removed as well.
“The project can be completed and ready for student occupancy by August 2019, so it’s a pretty quick turn around,” Whitney said. “Doing anything other than the repair and restore option would require another six or seven months of construction, essentially.”
The final plan will come back from the firm for a review at a later date, and a contract with Luckett & Farley is expected by May. Andrew said he agrees with the board’s decision to move forward with repairing and restoring Richmond.
“We think is it a great option and the most expeditious,” Andrew said. “We think it’s a great value.”
President Bob Davies said the cause of the explosion on June 28, 2017 is still under investigation by the state fire marshal.
“It could be months,” Davies said. “It could be years. That’s at their pace and movement. We are dealing with Murray State’s opportunity to move forward.”