Costs may be slashed by quarter, square footage reduced Construction of the proposed Revlon campus center may be delayed until the spring of 1995 – a year later than the most recent estimate, University administrators said yesterday. And in an effort to slash the project's expected $60 million cost, officials said, the center's price tag may be cut by about one-quarter and a third of the square footage eliminated. Vice President of Facilities Management Art Gravina said yesterday that "if everything goes well," groundbreaking on the Revlon Center will take place in a year and a half. After a recent re-evaluation of building as well as projected operating costs of the center, University administrators and Trustees have decided to cut the size and cost of the proposed facility. Gravina said the target cost of the Revlon Center, once new plans have been drafted, will be "around $45 million," and the University will look to eliminate one third of the square footage incorporated into the current design. He said possible additions will be considered if necessary funds become available. "The 1990s are going to be harder [for the University]," Interim Provost Marvin Lazerson said yesterday. "We are clearly going to have to make a continuing series of financial decisions and financial aid is our first priority." Lazerson said he and Interim President Claire Fagin had to look carefully at the costs of running the University and felt they "had to look at them honestly." Vice Provost for University Life Kim Morrisson, who has been closely involved with the project, is referring questions to Lazerson. Although the $60 million construction price tag is not a new figure, the possible $5.6 million yearly operating cost of the center is news University officials received only recently, said Gravina. "Its difficult to predict those costs until you have a good sense of what's going to be in [the center]," Gravina said. And the high operating costs, which Lazerson said would be absorbed by the individual schools within the University, could cause the schools much financial trouble. "We could not in good conscience go ahead with the costs as outlined," Lazerson said. University Trustee Michael Crow, who heads the Trustees' Facilities and Campus Planning Committee, said "keeping tuition down as much as possible" is a "top priority." And Lazerson said the University's financial aid program could be damaged if the current building and operating costs of the center are not lowered. Both Lazerson and Gravina agree that one of the main mistakes made throughout the planning process for the center has been the lack of a core group of proper leaders. "We never generated a kind of definitive responsibility," Lazerson said. "We had a lot of interest [in the project], but no one was designated to raise the necessary money, nobody was making sure that the design fit the needs of the University." Gravina said too many leaders with unfocused responsibilities has been the University's main problem. "There were too many chefs and no cook," said Gravina. "Too much leadership that's disjointed screws it up as much as not having any leadership at all." Crow said the inflated cost is due in part to years of planning without proper regard to price. "Attention wasn't paid to the cost until we had fairly detailed plans," Crow said. And Lazerson said he and Fagin will consider costs at early stages of future building projects. "We did not spend enough time asking the question 'If we do this, how much will it cost?'" he said. Gravina said the target cost of the Revlon Center, once new plans have been drafted, will be "around $45 million," and the University will look to eliminate one third of the square footage incorporated into the current design. He said possible additions will be considered if necessary funds become available. Gravina introduced a new program to Trustees on Thursday entitled "PennSpace," which outlines the procedures needed to effectively plan and build new University facilities. He said the plan would avoid future problems like those with the Revlon Center.
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