Brite Divinity School proposes renovation of Moore Building
Design will make room for growth in student enrollment
By Nyshicka Jordan
Staff Reporter

Brite Divinity School’s Building Grounds Committee and architects from F&S Partners, Inc. will present a design proposal for the renovation of the Moore Building and an annex at 11 a.m. today to Brite’s Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees, said Trustee Eugene Brice.

The Executive Committee will then present the design proposal to Brite’s Board Saturday, Brice said. He said he expects the designs to be approved at that time, allowing further steps of development to begin.

Brice said the Board will then recommend a capital funds campaign strategy for fund raising for the renovation and construction, which he said he expects will pass.

Interim Brite President Duane Cummins said this project has been in development stage since 1999. He said there is a definite need for expansion because demographics suggest the school’s population will increase. He said growth is occurring because baby boomers are returning to get degrees and that student growth affects the growth of faculty and staff.

Cummins said Brite currently has four classrooms and 267 students.

“We can not grow with only four classrooms,” Cummins said.

Cummins is on the design committee and said the process has been an evolving design. He said the committee has finally come to a unanimous decision.

The Moore Building has about 17,000 square feet. The annex, proposed at 34,000 additional square feet, will be behind the Moore Building, Cummins said.

Cummins said the annex will be three levels and will include 28 parking spaces on the ground level, 10 classrooms, food services an auditorium style classroom that will include distance-learning technology and a bridge linking the Moore Building and the annex. In addition, he said Moore the Building will have major renovations including a mediation room and a bookstore.

“The goal is to be sure that it would satisfy all the learning needs of the Brite community and community needs,” Cummins said.

Building plans are located on the Brite Web site (www.brite.tcu.edu).

Brite student David Ricker said he has not seen the plans, but that the meditation room and more classrooms will be great.

“(More classrooms) can help in making class size smaller and that is a good thing,” Ricker said.

Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs William Koehler said the annex is expected to have no impact on TCU from what he knows about the plans. He said the annex will be built on land owned by Brite.

“The two institutions discuss space use and try to be sensitive to the needs of one another,” Koehler said.

Brice said a rough estimate of cost for the project is between $13 and $14 million. He said capital for the project will come from the capital funds campaign and none will come from Brite’s endowment.

Brice said even though the economy is weak he is not concerned with the ability to raise money.

“It will be a challenge sure, but I think we can do it,” Brice said.

Brice said the campaign will be discussed Saturday, but that he is not sure if a date for the fund-raising campaign will be set then. He said the total gifts for the project currently are no more than $500,000, including a contribution of $5,000 from he and his wife.

Nyshicka Jordan