Bluffton University has “pressed the pause button” on the construction of the Knowlton Science Center, according to president Jane Wood.
President Jane Wood. Photo by Aubrey Bartel.
“Most likely the pause will be up to a year, but we will see how it goes,” Wood said. “We are going to build the building, but for a number of different reasons this spring didn’t turn out to be the best time.”
The new building will feature three stories and 32,500 square feet and is focused on the development of better labs for hands-on science. The need for new science facilities was identified with the campus-wide facilities master plan in 2014-15, and the comprehensive campaign began on July 1, 2016.
The comprehensive campaign is titled Simply Innovate, with the fundraising goal of $26 million. That is made up of $14.5 million for the science building project, $1.1 million a year for five years for support for the Bluffton Fund, which helps fund student financial aid and supports the total educational program, a $5 million endowment goal and a $1 million innovation goal.
Hans Houshower, vice president for advancement. Photo by Aubrey Bartel.
“We have secured the $14.5 million in gifts and pledges of support for the science building,” said Hans Houshower, vice president for advancement. “We’re currently focusing on the innovation goal, which is focusing on raising start-up costs for the Bluffton Blueprint.”
Part of the $14.5 million is in estate gifts, which is a gift the university receives when someone passes away and has designated the university as a recipient of funds from their financial or other resources.
“We have raised all $14.5 million, but we have around $5 million that would be coming in in estate gifts,” Wood said. “So what we would need to find then is about $5 million in what we would call bridge financing or additional money to help us build the building until those pledges come in.”
One way the university explored doing this is through bonds, which are similar to loans but come from organizations and companies instead of banks. However, this did not prove to be in the best interest of the future of the university.
“The bond life was about 30 years,” Wood said. “Right now to be able to say we’re going to agree to a 30-year bond with a number of different restrictions about what the university can and cannot do when we have no idea what the needs of the university will be in 15 years did not seem prudent.”
Despite the delay, Houshower said he considers the campaign a success.
“The donors have responded to the goals we’ve set for the project and they’ve done it in a period of time that’s less than I anticipated,” Houshower said. “We all know how much we want and need a new science facility, so we’ve been working very hard to try and put the financial deal together this year so we could move forward. We didn’t quite get to that place, but we’re ready to go when the time is right.”
