A project to turn South Hall into a new
home for media and communications studies at Bowling Green State University got the go-ahead Friday by
the university’s Board of Trustees.The plan calls for gutting the building, which was built in 1959, and
completely renovating it, said Sheri Stoll, the university’s chief financial officer.The total cost of
the project is $24 million with $13 million of that spent on construction.The programs require a
"great deal of equipment" so $5 million of the remaining $11 million is expected to be spent
equipping the new facility.Those will include new studios for the TV station BG24 News and the radio
stations WFAL and WBGU-FM. Those facilities are now located in West Hall.Work has already started
abating any potentially hazardous materials in the building. Stoll said that by the middle of January
"the interior will pretty much be gone."The new home for the School of Media and Communication
is expected to open in fall, 2015.The Department of Theatre and Film had most recently occupied South
Hall but has moved to the Wolfe Center for the Arts.Though the building had a number of issues, Stoll
said architects have told her it is structurally very sound.Funding will be split with $13 million from
state capital funds with the remainder from local funds.According to the resolution approved
unanimously: "The project includes interior abatement, fully gutting the building, and the
installation of new mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire sprinkler systems and related equipment"
as well as "thermal efficiency improvements to the building’s exterior envelope, new windows,
exterior doors; new (replacement) radio and television studios with required support spaces for each,
blended content lab (convergence lab) and support spaces, classroom and seminar rooms, department and
faculty offices, conference rooms, and informal collaborative work spaces."The university plans to
demolish West Hall once it is vacated.The trustees also approved a six-year capital plan for 2015
through 2020. Envisioned in the plan are renovations to the original university structures known as the
Traditions Buildings as well as expansion of the Bowen-Thompson Student Union. A new home for the
College of Business Administration is also in the plans.In other action, the trustees approved a $15.75
million expansion of the Allied Health and Sciences Building on the Firelands campus. Originally a new
building was planned, but now existing space will be used.