MOUNT VERNON — A $3 million matching grant from the Hall-Perrine Foundation of Cedar Rapids will help Cornell College expand and remodel
The Commons, its 1960s student center.
Cornell must match the award 2-to-1 by Dec. 31, 2008. Fund raising for the $6 million balance is under way.
Opened in 1966, The Commons houses the campus dining halls, bookstore, mail center, a fitness center, offices for student activities including the newspaper and radio station, a coffeehouse and several rooms for classes, meetings and small lectures. The facility is visited daily by all Cornell students.
The renovation is expected to cost $19 million, and work is to begin in spring 2008. Plans are to build a three-level, 13,000-square-foot addition on the building’s east side. The new space will accommodate an expanded dining area and renovated kitchen; a larger fitness center featuring a workout area, aerobics room, intramural office and locker rooms; a multipurpose room that can seat 170 for a lecture or can be subdivided; and three new classrooms.
“The Commons is the living room, dining room and meeting place for students, faculty and staff. With Cornell’s increasing enrollment and the growth in our student activities and campus programming, we are eager to enhance the facility,” said Cornell President Les Garner. “We greatly appreciate the Hall-Perrine Foundation’s support for this project and its continuing commitment to Cornell.”
In 1995 the Hall-Perrine Foundation awarded Cornell $3 million for renovations to Cole Library, which also serves as Mount Vernon’s public library. In 1998 the foundation awarded a $3 million challenge grant for renovations to Cornell’s fine arts facilities.
Cornell is a private, liberal arts college expecting a record enrollment this fall of 1,200 men and women from over 40 states and a dozen foreign countries. The entire campus of 43 buildings on 129 acres is one of only two colleges in the country listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
