The ballroom expansion is under way |
Over the years, Alumni Hall’s grand old ballroom has seen couples beginning new lives together, classmates renewing friendships, achievements honored and knowledge shared. Guests have enjoyed music, food and drink of all kinds. Countless sums of money have been raised for long lists of charities.
The ballroom hosted 176 events in just the last fiscal year. The heavy schedule has taken a toll: the wooden floor is worn thin from resurfacing and stains on the walls hint at years of spilled libations. Something needed to be done.
The ballroom is now in the midst of a $1.3 million transformation. By pushing the exterior walls further out over a portion of the current terrace, the interior space will increase by about 36 percent—expanding the seating capacity from 250 to 400, and even larger for stand-up events. There will also be new floors, ceiling, lighting, furnishings and wall coverings, and the bar will get a makeover.
Preliminary work began in March, but the ballroom will remain open until after Reunions Weekend in early June. During the following six months, events will be held in smaller rooms or in a tent on Alumni Hall’s front lawn. The project is scheduled to be completed by the start of 2007 (though to be on the safe side, bookings are not being accepted before February).
C. Thomas Faulders III, president and CEO of the Alumni Association, says the temporary inconvenience will be more than offset by future decades of memories that will have the new ballroom as their setting.
"We want to make Alumni Hall the focal point for alumni activities," he says. "The expanded space will enhance our ability to do that."
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