Campaign Kicks Off to Renovate YSU’s Kilcawley Center

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A renovated Kilcawley Center at Youngstown State University will boast wide open spaces, a centralized dining area and a small theater, all in a more welcoming facility.

The campaign to renovate the student center, dubbed Centered on the Future, kicked off Tuesday with an event inside its Chestnut Room featuring Pete and Penny Penguin, cheerleaders, members of the marching band and speakers. Kilcawley was built in the 1960s and opened in 1965.

It needs a facelift, YSU President Bill Johnson said. 

“There’s about $20 to $30 million in deferred maintenance in this building today,” he said. “It makes absolutely no sense to put that kind of money into a 1960s vintage building but, most importantly, our students, our faculty and our staff, they deserve a modern student center.”

Alumnus Scott Schulick will lead the campaign. The total renovation cost is about $43 million, with about $21 million identified: about $6 million in gifts and pledges, $13.3 million from the state and $1.5 million from the university in capital funds.

“This campaign is important to me because I love Youngstown State University,” Schulick said. “But, particularly, I spent a lot of time in this building as a student.”

As president of the Student Government Association, he maintained an office in the building. He worked there as a student employee, was involved in activities, spent time with friends and ate meals in Kilcawley.

“There’s a lot of nostalgia for me in this building,” Schulick said. He also donated $100,000 to the campaign.

Johnson and his wife, LeeAnn, contributed $100,000 last January, and last month, Premier Bank announced its $150,000 donation to the renovation project.

The plan is to try to raise as much money as possible through the campaign to keep the university from having to take on too much long-term debt, Schulick explained. 

“Now we need the rest of the money to make this project happen,” he said. “We don’t have a specific goal. We just want to raise as much as we can” so the university doesn’t take on long-term debt. 

Out of Ohio’s 14 state universities, YSU is the only one that doesn’t have a rebuilt or renovated student center, Schulick pointed out. 

“We are the last of the 14 that has this 1960s vintage look,” he said.

There are signs of wear and tear, and the space needs to be reconfigured for students of today. A student center is also important as more students live on campus than in years past, including international students.

“One of the things about this center is it’s the place that needs to be open on the weekends,” Schulick explained. “It’s the place that needs to have the services and amenities within walkable distance for those students who might not have transportation to get to some stores or other places. … So it was always relevant, but it’s even more relevant today with those students who live nearby.”

YSU senior sports broadcasting major Terin Frodyma, an Iowa native and member of YSU’s swim team, provided feedback for what he wants to see in a renovated center during the planning phases.

“A lot of it was coming from a student perspective of what Kilcawley Center currently has and what it can improve on,” he said. 

Better and more natural lights was one of the biggest things, Frodyma said. 

“You walk into Kilcawley Center and you feel like you are trapped in a pile of bricks,” he said. 

Even the building’s downstairs level has few windows and limited natural light, the student said. Natural light improves mood and the overall feeling of an environment, he said. A centralized dining location was another amenity that Frodyma emphasized. 

“Those dining locations are some of the biggest [with] the highest rate of camaraderie, just between student to student or student to staff member,” he said. 

Frodyma estimates he spends three to four hours a week in Kilcawley, from dining to studying to meeting friends. He looks forward to more student involvement in the building, adding that its current configuration isn’t welcoming. 

“That’s why the open concept of this new Kilcawley Center renovation is really awesome, because it’s going to promote that invitation of people coming in and bonding together,” Frodyma said. 

Johnson said the student center is a place for students to meet and gather and for members of the community to meet students as well.

“It is really important when students come from all over the world to Youngstown State University, we want them to see a modern-looking university,” he said. “We’re in the age of AI and quantum computing.”

The president said the project will take about two years to complete. Contract bids will go out in mid-November, and bids will be returned in mid-December. A contractor will be selected early next year, with construction starting in May.

“We expect to reopen the fully renovated and completed Kilcawley Center in time for the fall term of 2027,” Johnson said.

The renovated building will have a new look both inside and outside.

“We’re going to open this place up,” he said. “You’re going to see a lot of light, a lot of open space.”

The eating areas are now spread throughout the building.

“Rather than having different vendors with different kitchens all over the facility, we’re going to have a common kitchen and a common area where all of our food vendors are going to be,” the president said. “That way, we economize the space. We have a better seating facility to have our students come and hang out.”

The renovated building will also feature a black-box theater for performances, improved connectivity to Andrews Student Recreation and Wellness Center and a Chestnut Room revamped for larger gatherings.

Construction will be a phased approach, Johnson said. Offices and amenities will move within the building and to other parts of campus while construction is ongoing. That information will be communicated to campus.

“We put a lot of effort,” Johnson said. “We’ve only got one student center. It’s not like we can move it somewhere else, or stand up an operation somewhere else, so we’re phasing things so that we can move things around and keep students in here as much as possible.”

Pictured at top: Scott Schulick, a YSU alumnus, will chair the Kilcawley: Centered on the Future campaign.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.