The gap between campus and downtown will get smaller as both Western and Bowling Green complete building projects planned on the downtown side of the Hill.
A new building for the Gordon Ford College of Business, non-traditional student housing, a parking garage with stores around it and a five-story hotel are all planned for “block 12,” which is the area enclosed by and surrounding Kentucky and Center Streets and 13th Avenue.
The future business college was the first project planned in this area, said Bryan Russell, director of Planning, Design and Construction.
The location was recommended by EOP Architects, a building design company, after their firm completed a site selection study in December 2008, Russell said.
The design for the business college is done, he said. State legislators still have to approve the $49 million project, and that wouldn’t happen until at least April.
When Housing and Residence Life decided to build apartments for non-traditional students in February, they chose the area across the street from the future business college, HRL Director Brian Kuster said.
“There’s really no place else for campus to go,” Kuster said. “We’re not going to cross University Boulevard, so it makes more sense to go over the Hill.”
Demolition for the apartments is done, and Kuster said he hopes the design will be complete in December so construction can start in summer 2010 and finish by fall 2011.
Kuster estimates that the project will cost between $6 million and $7 million, but the amount won’t be finalized until the design is finished. It’s funded by the Student Life Foundation, a non-profit group that owns all the dorms.
Bowling Green’s development plans for block 12 will make the area a more attractive place for the apartments by bringing in parking and businesses and making it safer, Kuster said.
The Warren County Economic Development Authority, charged with downtown redevelopment, made the decision to build a parking structure in the area, said Mary Cohron, chairwoman of the WCEDA.
Originally, a parking structure was planned to be at Sixth and College Streets near the baseball stadium, but the city had trouble with financing for that area and finding businesses that wanted to move into the space wrapping around the structure, Cohron said.
“Because of the economy, it just wasn’t feasible to do that now,” she said.
But a hotel developer was interested in building a hotel in the Center Street area near campus and required that a parking structure be built next to it, Cohron said. So the WCEDA approached President Gary Ransdell about putting a parking structure in the area.
Ransdell approved of the idea and decided to put a Western bookstore and coffee shop in the space around the structure and an alumni center nearby, Cohron said.
The parking structure is still being designed, but it’s expected to cost between $5 million and $6 million, she said. The total cost of city’s block 12 projects is expected to be about $40 million.
Cohron said she hopes the groundbreaking for the parking structure will be at the beginning of next year.
Russell said there’s also talk of putting a police station in the area, and Kuster said there’s potential for expanding the Greek Village along Center Street, too.
Cohron said these projects will transform the area and make it more attractive for the community.
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