Approval for critical documentation holds up the teardown
After months of anticipation from students, faculty and Bon Appetit staff alike, Grub Hollow served its first customer on November 11, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. Abdul Tonmoy ’27 had the honor of being the first served customer, and since then, more than 8,000 meals have been served. While it took 17 weeks since the delivery of the first module on July 15, the opening of the new dining hall is a big step for the College as it continues to prepare for the demolition of the Sparks Center and the construction of the Community Center.
“One of the important things that really needed to happen was getting the [temporary] dining up and going,” said Wabash Chief Financial Officer Kendra Cooks. “[It’s opening] was a key component.”
With Grub Hollow fully operational, resources and time can now be focused towards other aspects of the extensive process of building the new Community Center. However, while it had been discussed that work would continue to happen on Grub Hollow, namely the construction of a temporary Wally’s Pub, the College won’t be funding a permanent home for the campus staple.
“I think that [Wally’s] is not going to happen,” said Cooks. “When we were first looking at it and pricing it out, we thought it would be about $300,000 to $350,000 [for the temporary modules], but it’s going to be double that. That just does not pencil. I hate to say that, because that just kills me, but we are looking at alternatives.”
While the construction of a temporary Wally’s is not likely, students living on the west side of campus returned from Thanksgiving to see an early Christmas gift — an open parking expansion off of Union Street. The future demolition and construction on the Sparks Center and subsequently, the Community Center, will displace parking spots – which has already happened to many parking spots along the Mall. Since this would disrupt Wabash’s status with city parking requirements, the new lot was constructed to deal with this potential issue.
While these two key elements have been completed, there still remains work to do before the demolition of the Sparks Center can commence. While the lack of action along the Mall may be misconstrued as inaction by the College, the truth is quite the opposite.
“Getting demolition started is our highest priority and my hope is that we will begin without delay once financing is approved,” said Wabash President Scott Feller. “But the timeline for the demolition remains uncertain.”
This is due to many unknowns relating to the federal processes that need to be completed before physical progress can be made.
“The uncertainty is driven by the approval process for the financing we are seeking through USDA-Rural Development,” said Feller. “This is a completely new program for Wabash College, which makes the crystal ball very difficult to read.”
In particular, there are two important steps the College must complete before the project can begin.
“We’re on two tracks, if you will, for approval,” said Cooks. “The project side of things that needs to be approved through USDA-Rural Development, and the financial track, which can happen even later.”
The project requirements for demolition are the current hold up – since the College will be funding the demolition itself, the financial requirements won’t need to be met until construction of the new Community Center starts.
Currently, the two main obstacles of demolition starting are the report detailing the plan to preserve the historical impact of the Sparks Center, as well as the approval of an Environmental Report, which also includes the Architectural Feasibility Report.
“The last signer [of the historical preservation agreement] is USDA-Rural Development,” said Cooks. “I’ve signed it along with the Department of Historical Preservation and Architecture in the state. [USDA] doesn’t have concerns about the agreement, it’s just finding a federal preservation officer that will sign it.”
The Environmental Report is currently in its final draft stages, and once approved by the Wabash team, will also be sent to USDA to be reviewed by their national office for approval. Once both the Environmental Report and the agreement for historical preservation are approved by the USDA, demolition would be able to commence. However, it is hard to say when these documents will be given the green light.
“Our construction team has said, after approval, it will take a month to mobilize [for demolition],” said Cooks. “The team believes that demolition will take four to six weeks. A few days will be necessary to reclaim any items that need to be physically removed from the structure, and the remaining time will be used to complete the demolition and the removal of material from the site.”
One problem with the uncertainty of when demolition can start is the impact it might have on the Wabash community, potentially during an academic semester. The demolition of the Sparks Center was originally slated for the summer of 2024, but the discovery of the USDA-Rural Development Grant paused any progress. However, the College is looking to press on with a balance of progress and minimal disruption to campus life if necessary.
“Getting demolition started is our highest priority and my hope is that we will begin without delay once financing is approved, even if classes are in session,” said Feller. “We will shoot for a balance between progress on a new building and disruption to current operations — a balance we have been striking since last spring when we kicked off the electrical infrastructure project.”
“We are committed to do this project,” said Cooks. “This has been a project that our community has been saying was needed for 20-plus years. So we are doing this project.”