JBU announces two new building projects with $4 million gift.

SILOAM SPRINGS  — The John Brown University board of trustees unveiled two new building projects for the coming year for its students and surrounding community.

A new banquet hall and townhouse apartment building are slated to open by the summer 2013 thanks to a generous, but anonymous, $4 million gift received by the institution.

Dr. Jim Krall, vice president of university advancement, said the anonymous $4 million has kicked off the giving. The two projects are expected to cost $8 million
which will need to be will be raised for completion and operational maintenance.

The 17,000-square foot banquet hall, which has been informally dubbed the Great Hall, will seat approximately 500 people. The Great Hall will feature the ability to be divided into three separate rooms and include modern audio/visual presentation features. The project will also renovate the joint entrance area of the Mabee and Champan Administration buildings.

“The Great Hall will be a wonderful facility for gatherings and fellowship for JBU students and our Northwest Arkansas community,” said Dr. Chip Pollard, president. “We have enormous gratitude for the anonymous lead gift to get this project started.”

The Great Hall will be build adjacent to the Kresge Dining Hall and will be accessible for daily overflow from the cafeteria. Also, non-JBU events normally held in the Kresge Dining Hall will be able to be held in the Great Hall, avoiding the displacement of students during meal times.

The new 10,000 square-foot townhouse apartment facility will be built the existing JBU townhouses. The apartments will consist of two bedrooms, two bathrooms, an open living room/kitchen area and individual laundry facilities.

When completed, the townhouse apartments will likely be used to house as many as 40 upperclassmen, with the possibility of use by married students, nontraditional students or even staff, said Dr. Steve Beers, vice president for student development and facilities.

“The residential experience is core to many of our educational programs,” said Dr. Beers. “These new apartments will provide us with comfortable, flexible spaces to meet the housing needs of our diverse residential students.”