BSU to demolish LaFollette Complex

MUNCIE, Ind. — Ball State University is seeking bids for the demolition of the 50-year-old LaFollette Complex, the largest residence hall group on campus, starting this summer.

The nine-story-tall, 531,793-square-feet facility opened in 1967 during the nationwide expansion in higher education to accommodate baby boomers, said Alan Hargrave, director of housing and residence life. It houses about 1,900 students.

Similarly large residence halls, designed to hold as many students in as small a space as possible, were built on many other campuses in the 1960s.

Most freshmen at Ball State lived in LaFollette, where they make a lot of friends. But they don't want to stay there more than a year, Hargrave said.

Mysch/Hurst Hall and Woody/Shales Hall will be the first of five in LaFollette to come down.

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BSU has issued notices to bidders for demolitions and asbestos abatement to start May 8, with a completion date of Sept. 29, at an estimated cost of $3.4 million.

"Thousands and thousands of students have lived here over the course of its tenure, so it has served the university well," said Hargrave, whose office is in the building. "The university has gotten a lot of use out of it. It still has the original windows. We've done our part to keep it safe and well maintained."

During a commencement speech in 2015, John Schnatter recalled that he came up with the specifications, recipes, demographics, equipment and business plan for a pizza business when he was living on the fifth floor of LaFollette in 1982.

"The only thing I didn't have was the name," he said. He asked a marketing major, whose name he doesn't remember, for help. Three days later, the fellow student, who was from Chicago, came back with the name "Papa John's." "I promised him a pizza a week for the rest of his life," Schnatter said. "He's never come forward. How can you not know you did that logo? True story."

LaFollette was built long before the Americans with Disabilities Act became law in 1990. Among other drawbacks, the ceilings are low, and there is no natural light in the long corridors, which tends to induce claustrophobia, Hargrave said. "For some of the taller students, the ceiling is not much above their head."

During public meetings in 2014 on a new campus master plan, some students raised concerns about residence hall affordability if LaFollette were torn down and replaced with new and popular suite-style housing.

The architecture of the building is outdated. "We would actually spend a lot of money trying to renovate it and it would still look much like it looks now," Harvgrave told The Star Press.

Three sections are scheduled for demolition this summer: the northwest wing, and the north section of the northeast wing. In total this summer, 126,000 square feet of the building will be demolished. "Then in 2021 we will demolish the remaining sections," BSU associate vice president Jim Lowe said.

One project this summer will remove asbestos materials from all three sections. Another project will remove mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems in all three sections and disconnect utilities. A third project this summer will demolish all remaining parts of the same three sections.

Beginning this summer and continuing for the next several years, all sections of LaFollette will be removed until it's totally razed and replaced with new housing.

Contact Seth Slabaugh at (765) 213-5834.