The OSU Board of Trustees will vote this week on a $156 million plan to renovate and expand Hamilton Hall at 1645 Neil Ave.
The new, 100,000-square-foot addition would be built along West 10th Avenue and would require the demolition of portions of Starling Loving Hall and Fry Hall.
The new facility is to be called the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Center and would hold classrooms, a 6,000-square-foot “informal learning space,” and a 125-seat reading room.
A site plan provided by OSU shows that the entire eastern wing of Starling Loving Hall, extending from West 11th to West 10th Avenue, would be demolished to make way for the new project.
Starling Loving Hall has seen many additions over the years, but the portion being proposed for demolition includes the original structure – built in 1917 as the Homeopathic Hospital Building – as well as the part of the building that currently fronts West 10th Avenue, which was completed in 1938.
Also slated for demolition is the one-story section of Fry Hall, which was dedicated in 1951.
The College of Optometry, which currently has facilities in both Starling Loving Hall and Fry Hall, is slated to move some of its operations into the new Health Sciences Faculty Office and Optometry Clinic. That building is under construction at the corner of West 11th and Neil Avenues and is on track for an October 2020 opening, according to OSU.
UPDATE: The Board of Trustees voted on August 30 to approve the plans for the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Center.
For more information on the OSU Board of Trustees, see www.trustees.osu.edu.
