Logan closing depends on weather

The first group forced to leave its prime location in the center of campus will not be removed by President Sheldon Hackney but by Mother Nature. In a report given at yesterday's College faculty meeting, School of Arts and Sciences Dean Hugo Sonnenschein brought home the news that inhabitants of Logan Hall will probably have to uproot themselves from their offices this spring while extensive repairs occur. The more extreme this winter's weather, the sooner faculty and administrators will relocate, the dean said. Sonnenschein said the repairs are likely to begin before next May because "it is not clear whether Logan Hall would survive another year." The repairs will cost the University $10 million -- more than it would cost to tear down the historic building and replace it with a purely functional building, according to Vice President for Facilities Management Arthur Gravina. Sonnenschein said the repairs, in which workers will replace much of the gray building's stonework, will force inhabitants to relocate their offices for at least a year. They will probably move to 3440 Market Street. Logan Hall houses many College administrative and academic departments, including the College for General Studies, the College Office, the Philosophy and Folklore departments, the International Relations Program and the General Honors Program. The relocation process for the current College-dominated inhabitants will be complicated, according to Karen Miselis, SAS associate administrative dean. She said approximately 150 people and 35,000 square feet of office space must be relocated. Miselis added that she and other administrators have been searching for three years for places to house the soon-to-be-uprooted offices. Sonnenschein said the only space where they could put all Logan Hall inhabitants together was at the University City Science Center at 3440 Market Street. "We found [the Market Street space] after a long, complicated search," said Miselis. "This space is conducive to what the departments have to do . . . Putting everybody there together will create a better atmosphere." Logan Hall inhabitants said last night they have resigned themselves to the move, adding that they are not angered because the repairs are vital to the building's health. Frank Plantan, associate director of the International Relations program, last night voiced support for the renovations. Plantan said that although the move posed an "inconvenience", he saw it as "a fact of life that you have to deal with . . . It's nothing to be upset about." "It's a shame that we have to leave, because Logan Hall is such a great building," College of General Studies Director Richard Hendrix said last night. "But you can't stay in a building that is going to fall down or be condemned." Hendrix added that although the most likely relocation site is not ideal, he is "glad it's not further away." The University made these renovations inevitable when it constructed the building more than 100 years ago, Sonnenschein said, because it used inferior quality stone to build both Logan Hall and College Hall. Water has thoroughly permeated and damaged the weak stone and must be replaced, he said. "The stone is soft and it is coming apart from the rest of the building, so it has to be taken down and rebuilt," Miselis said. She said every side of the building has been affected. In addition to fixing the stonework, workers will repair the building's leaking roof, replace worn out mortar, and conduct extensive cosmetic renovations.

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