Penn State will construct a new $96 million building to address a shortage of large, general-purpose classrooms at the University Park campus.
The Board of Trustees on Friday approved plans for the 102,000-square-foot building to be constructed near the corner of Bigler Road and East Park Avenue, next to the Forest Resources Building. Funding will come from $85.5 million in borrowing and $10.5 million from central reserves, according to a presentation to the board’s Finance and Investment Committee on Thursday.
University Park currently has only 24 large general-purpose classrooms with a capacity over 150, and each is heavily used with no open availability, Sara Thorndike, senior vice president of finance and business, told the board.
More large classrooms will also be needed to accommodate anticipated enrollment growth at University Park — an increase for which the trustees also on Friday approved a public-private partnership to construct a new student housing complex.
A “road map” for the future of the university unveiled earlier this year plans to “leverage” growing demand for attendance at University Park by increasing undergraduate enrollment 9,175 in 2023-24 to 10,000 over several admission cycles.
“Anticipated enrollment growth requires that we add large general-purpose classrooms,” Thorndike said.
The new building will add approximately 2,200 classroom seats, with large lecture halls and seminar-style and flexible seating general-purpose classrooms that will be available to all academic colleges.
The four-level, three-story facility also will include informal learning areas, casual seating and study areas.
An underground stormwater system in North Halls will be used to meet stormwater management requirements, and a regional sanitary pump will “address existing sanitary lines in poor condition within proximity to the project site,” Thorndike said.
The open space north of the Forest Resources Building where the new facility will be constructed “has long been identified as a potential future building site,” Thorndike said.
Construction is expected to be completed in time for the fall 2026 semester.
The university has also appointed an architect for the renovation and repurposing of the former Palmer Museum of Art building on Curtin Road with the goal of creating “as many general purpose classrooms as possible,” according to a request for proposals for the project. No formal plans have been brought forward yet.
