Bear Hall to Replace Minton Hall

The campus may look a little different when you get back from Christmas Break.

Minton Hall will be a pile of rubble and construction on its replacement will have begun across the street. Minton Hall was built more than 50 years ago and has been closed for the past three years because of concerns over asbestos, lead paint and the general disrepair of the building. The past couple of years, Minton Hall has been used for police and fire department training exercises.

Minton is being replaced by Bear Hall, a four-story, 385-bed dormitory. The 120,000-square-foot, $18 million building will be located just behind the visitor's side of Estes Stadium. It is being financed with money from $22 million in bonds the university has sold. University officials said they expect to open it by the Fall 2012 semester. The remaining money from the bonds will be used to make improvements to several other dormitories.

Bear Hall will be built in a "J" shape looping around the area behind the stadium. Students and faculty from our interior design program helped design the layout of the building. Their design includes a study room on each floor, a laundry facility on the first floor, and three seminar rooms. The plan includes using 50,000 bricks from Minton Hall in the new building.

Artist's rendering of Bear Hall

The new building also will include a fifth floor for 12 luxury skyboxes overlooking the football field. The skyboxes, each with a capacity of 20 people, are being leased for $25,000 a year with a minimum lease of 10 years. The athletic department is paying for the skyboxes with $2.2 million in private donations. Eight of the 12 skyboxes have been leased so far.

The skyboxes will have private entrances, reserved parking and a lobby and elevators separate from the dormitory. They will be equipped with refrigerators, ice makers, indoor and outdoor seating and a small kitchen space.

The groundbreaking for Bear Hall is scheduled for 2 p.m., Dec. 17. Construction is scheduled to begin immediately after the Christmas holidays.

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