Bromley Hall builds new offices, classrooms

by Rob Chalifoux
FOR THE POST

Orange barrels and scaffolding continue to be found beyond Court Street.

Construction to Bromley Hall, 35 S. Congress, has been ongoing since the beginning of the school year.

"The construction is actually two different projects," said Steve Pierson, Athens city code enforcement director. "They are touching up the outside – resurfacing some of the bricks and doing some repainting. They are also remodeling their basement."

According to the building permit, Bromley Hall will be remodeling their basement for use as offices and classrooms.

"There will be one big classroom, and then several smaller breakout rooms, that will hold 25-35 people," said Gary Levy, director of housing and general manager of Bromley Hall.

While the external work started during the summer, construction on the basement started at the beginning of this month. The basement should be finished by Dec. 1, according to the permit.

Once the construction is finished, Bromley Hall will lease the space to Ohio University.

"We will be leasing the space to the university, who will be using it for relocating the offices of their Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning program," Levy said. "The classrooms will be used by the (Masters in Business Administration) Without-Boundaries Program."

The Continued Education and Lifelong Learning department plans to move their offices over the winter break, so they can be ready to work out of the new offices for winter quarter, he said.

"It's a lot more complicated then just moving there," said Muriel Ballou, associate director of OU Distance Learning. "What we are doing is establishing an office.... There were other sites, but this one was decided on by the dean."

The current office space caused problems for the department. The employees who worked together on similar projects could work together in the same physical area, she said.