The buildings at The Ridges run the gamut from conference rooms with chandeliers hanging from ceilings and high-tech biology labs to intolerably hot or cold buildings.
Though Facilities at Ohio University decided to close off Building 20, which was built between 1923 and 1936, for repairs to heating and cooling systems, and other buildings show similar wear and tear, many of the buildings have been renovated and used effectively.
Associate Vice President for Facilities Harry Wyatt said Building 20 will be sealed off until OU decides what to do with the building.
He estimated a system renovation in Building 20 would cost from $5 million to 8 million.
Because of Building 20’s closing, the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs’ Center for Entrepreneurship and its economic analysis department is in the process of moving into Building 19, said Mike Finney, associate director for operations at the school.
Those using the Building 20 offices first thought they would be moving out this past summer, when Facilities paid Tec Inc., a consulting firm, $15,000 to $20,000 for a comprehensive study of the piping systems inside and outside Building 20, Wyatt said.
“If the mechanical issues were not there, Building 20 was actually a very functioning building,” he said.
The Voinovich School moved into Building 20 in the early- to mid-1990s, and the school did extensive renovations before the move, Finney said.
Wyatt said the renovations were “cosmetic.”
The size and hospital layout of Building 20 made it useful as a flexible office for the Voinovich School, which hosts multiple temporary fellowship positions each year, Finney said.
Building 19 has less space than Building 20, but the Voinovich School asked Facilities to allow its employees to remain together at The Ridges to facilitate the collaborations that occur throughout the school.
“We do a lot of projects across our teams, (so) there’s a lot of sharing of faculty and staff across these projects,” Finney said.
George Eberts, an astronomy professor who worked in various positions at the Athens Mental Hospital, said when he gave tours at The Ridges last year, he began to notice a large hole “big enough to drive a car through” in the roof of the West Wing of the main Kirkbride building where no action has been taken to prevent weather and animals from entering the building.
“It represents the greatest single risk to the most important part of that building,” Eberts said.
Wyatt said he was not aware of the hole in the roof.
“There may be a recent leak that I’m not in tune of,” he said.
Eberts said he hopes the Ridges Advisory Council will urge OU to repair the roof of the Kirkbride building.
“Citizens of the state and especially those in the region certainly ought to have a lot more say,” Eberts said.
dk123111@ohiou.edu
