Davies Center Redevelopment
Steering Committee Meeting Minutes
February 10, 2009
Badger Room, Davies Center
Attendees: Beth Hellwig, Charles Farrell, Rick Gonzales, Tim Lauer, Terry Classen, Susan Harrison
1. A proposal was made to reconvene in the afternoon if all topics were not covered in the morning
meeting.
2. The group briefly reviewed the presentation made the previous week by Bray/Burt Hill.
1. The group consensus is to build new. The costly flood plain issues and ability to provide services
while remodeling are the two big roadblocks in the remodel option.
2. Issues involved with the new building option include Brewer Hall and Kjer Theatre, keeping the old
Davies, traffic and parking.
3. The program requirements for a new center were discussed and some needs that are not currently
included should be added. Tim Luttrell was called and a message left concerning additional square
footage needs.
4. The committee decided Option 1, remodeling the current Davies Center, is not a viable option.
5. The committee called Kate Sullivan to join the meeting via phone conference. Kate thought square
footage could be increased somewhat without affecting the overall budget. She felt an adaptive
reuse of Davies for the academic building would not be viable.
6. Kate also noted the academic and student services building are currently together and cannot be
split. In order for a split of this to happen, the project would have to be reevaluated for priority
status using Board of Regents’ criteria for enumeration of Projects (this would occur in conjunction
with preparation of the Capital budget request for 2011-13); then if still a priority project, be
presented to the Board of Regents and SBC seeking approval to move forward with the pre-design in
its new form; and subsequently, once numeration was granted and funding made available, move
forward with design. The reason they are together is both types of space are needed by campus and
the student services space component is too small to be created as a separate building. Further,
UW-Eau Claire has limited building sites. The idea of refurbishing Davies for this effort will probably
not be approved due to low suitability of the building for adaptive reuse of the full
academic/student services program, floodplain regulation compliance costs and degree of
improvement limitations, and the crowding effect it has on Site 2 which reduces the value of that
building site.
7. Charles Farrell noted he has been setting aside funding for moving, but has not funding to “cleanup” the Davies Center before vacating the premises. Further it was clarified by Kate that, following
moving into the new building, use of PR funds to improve the existing Davies building would not be
approved by the Board of Regents based on their recent clear direction related to River Falls’
Hagestead Hall.
8. The committee reconvened at 1:00.
9. It was recommended the theatre be kept to the same size as the present theatre. There will be two
ballrooms with one dividing into five rooms and the other in two.
10. Susan Harrison presented pictures from the student centers the committee had visited both in
Wisconsin and in Minnesota.
11. The committee felt the Green Room space needed to be increased to include two dressing rooms
with a bath and shower.
12. The group questioned the square footage that was agreed on in December and what the tab sheets
on the presentation from Bray Hill stated.
13. Rick Gonzales reiterated the different site issues.
14. Concerns were brought forth on the quickness of picking a site. It was decided a further
presentation would be made to the students with a clicker option to get their feedback.
15. Next week’s agenda was modified to accommodate meetings for the student’s concerns.
16. The meeting was adjourned.