Fletcher to undergo $10 million in renovations

The buildings housing the Fletcher School of International Law and Diplomacy will undergo multi-million dollar renovations this summer in an attempt to increase the building's productivity.

According to Fletcher Executive Associate Dean Gerard Sheehan, plans to renovate Mugar Hall and the Cabot Center first materialized in the fall of 2000.

"We knew that as the school continued to grow, our existing space and facilities weren't adequate for our growth plans," Sheehan said. "There was space that was not optimally used, that could be used for classrooms, offices, or student space."

According to Sheehan, Fletcher put together a financial plan that was approved by the University Board of Trustees in February. The $10 million plan divided the cost in half: $5 million would be financed through a fundraising campaign, and the other $5 million would be long-term debt under the University's current bond authority.

Architect Ralph Dinneen of the Boston-based firm RE Dinneen Architects and Planning was brought in to evaluate the space and propose a new master plan for the school.

Dinneen spoke to Fletcher students and faculty about their likes, dislikes and desires. Dinneen presented various drafts to Sheehan, and the result was a master plan that was approved in mid-October of 2001.

Cost estimates for the renovations, however, came to $10 million, which the school could not afford at the time. "Of course, the big challenge for us was where do you get the money to make this happen?" Sheehan said.

Previous smaller renovations had been completed using the capital funds of the Fletcher school, and the cost of renovating the multiple-use ASEAN Auditorium had been shared between Fletcher and the School of Arts Sciences and Engineering.

"This is but one important project for Fletcher that our office is seeking funding for," School Director of Development and Alumni Relations Roger Milici said.

According to Milici, Fletcher raised $45 million in the last capital campaign for student scholarships, faculty chairs, student internships and other school priorities.

Fletcher now has a committee of its own overseers to work on identifying prospects for donations to the campaign, Sheehan said. "We've been doing a lot of ground work."

That committee is a volunteer task force led by Boston real estate developer Gerald Blakeley, a Fletcher board member. "Our Board of Directors supports the initiative 100 percent and we have identified a number of individual prospects and some additional foundations to approach," Milici said. "The project entails a number of naming opportunities ranging from $100,000 to $1 million."

"We are confident that over the coming five to seven years, we will be successful on this project," Milici said.

The construction project is divided into three phases. Phase I will begin this summer and planners hope to have the work finished before classes begin in the fall. Fletcher already has a grant of $200,000 from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundation, according to Milici.

Phase I includes three projects. The first is consolidating the stacks in the Ginn Library into the first and third levels using high density shelving and maximizing unused space.

Following this, the second level of the stacks will be converted into office space with a small bridge built from the Hall of Flags into the office space, Sheehan said.

The second project of Phase I will take up most of the summer. It will involve a complete overhaul of the fourth floor of Cabot, where many administrative offices are.

According to Sheehan, space has been "carved out" over time so that offices have become "dysfunctional or suboptimal."

For that reason, "We're going to close the fourth floor, gut the interior, and try to rationalize the use of space," Sheehan said.

The third project of the first phase is laying the foundation for a building that will eventually take up the courtyard in the middle of Mugar, which will house more library space and a state of the art tiered classroom.

The construction of the two-floor structure will be part of the later phases. Phase II and III will proceed as the funds are made available.