Despite wanting to tear down Eleanor Meade Hall in the next few years, the University does not currently have the funds to do so, according to Mike Davis, assistant vice president for business affairs for procurement and physical plant operations.He said that the University looked at the cost to renovate the building or tear it down, and it was cheaper to tear it down.
Although future plans for the building have yet to be determined, Davis said, the University plans to release a Request For Proposals for a master planner/developer.
“Someone will come in and make recommendations to us, and we will make recommendations,” Davis said. “We will bring in a master planner/developer, an expert in living on college campuses, who will make recommendations to the University about the future of the residence halls, which could range from complete renovation of all resident halls or demolitions of all residential halls or a combination of the two.”
He said the University would like to tear the building down in the next two to three years, and Nicholls is trying to get an RFP out soon.
According to Davis, Upward Bound is currently using the downstairs portion of the building while the upstairs sections are used for storage. He said he is unsure of where Upward Bound will be placed when Meade Hall is demolished.
Meade Hall opened in the fall of 1972 as a men’s residence hall. Davis said use of the building as a dormitory was halted 15 to 20 years ago due to deterioration.
“It was beginning to deteriorate way too much,” Davis said. “We had a lot of water seepage in the walls. What appears to be brick on the wall is fake brick. Through the years, moisture penetrated the brick that was attached to the plywood wall to the extent that the metal studs were deteriorating. Structurally the building is sound except for the skin.”
Davis also confirmed that there is a gas pocket under the building that was discovered after the building was built, but he said there are safety devices in the elevator.
“There has been a vent system in the elevator,” he said. “As strictly a safety precaution, there’s a safety device. At so many parts per million, the sensor turns on the vent fans and any type of gas that would accumulate in the elevator shaft would be evacuated.”
Despite the presence of this gas pocket, Davis said from what he has been told, this pocket has never caused any problems.
“Of all the years it’s been in operation and all the years Meade Hall has been there, the alarms have never sounded,” he said. “There’s never been a safety problem. It has been a safe building, and we would never have put anyone in that building had there been a hazardous question.
