Story originally published in The Sylva Herald, March 13 edition
The Western Carolina University first Board of Trustees meeting this year on March 6 and 7 was an opportunity to brag on the university successes: high enrollment; increase in the retention of students (over 90%) and increased graduation rates (over 44%). The trustees received updates on WCU compliance with the executive orders and on many construction projects planned of which one will start as students return from spring break.
The Finance and Audit Committee meeting discussed several new building plans and renovations.
Stadium upgrades
The imminent construction project is the athletic facility improvements, specifically the renovation of the west side stands at E.J. Whitmire stadium. This facility upgrade has a budget of $66.4 million according to the CMR project summary, and while the construction was supposed to start in December of 2024, it will now start over spring break and is projected to be done by the football season in 2026, according to Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance, Mike Byers. Because of this, the parking lot beside the football stadium, referred to as the Big Cat Lot, which is a commuter lot, will be closed.
This renovation will include conference rooms and offices, which is where the WCU football coaching staff offices will be located, while also having stadium seating and a renovated concourse, as was demonstrated in a render video shown at the meeting.
Engineering building
Another project in discussion was the new engineering building. James R. Vannoy & Sons was revealed by Byers to be the leading choice for the construction company who will build the new engineering building. Vannoy previously built all three of the freshman dorm, Shining Rock, Water Rock, and Black Rock, and they’re also the contractor for the Moore building renovation, which is also coming soon.
The other choice was The Christman Company, who built the steam plant on WCU’s campus. Barnhill Contracting Company was another option until they withdrew from the interview for an undisclosed reason. So that left just Vannoy and Christman to make the decision between.
“Both that were interviewed were outstanding, either one could do the job very well,” Byers said during the meeting. “But the committee felt like the fit was best for James R. Vannoy and Sons construction company as the top choice.” According to Byers, Vannoy is also efficient at getting sub-contractors, as a job like this usually requires “11 to 12” different sub-contractors with how large of a job this is.
The Board then approved the recommendation of Vannoy to build the new engineering building. According to the Construction Manager at Risk Project Summary for this new building, the budget is $95.3 million, which is funded by the North Carolina General Assembly, and construction will start January 2026 and end August 2028.
The new Engineering building will be built in the resident parking lot area right across from the WCU bookstore, overlooking the soccer field and track. There was no discussion on how the university will handle the loss of a residential parking lot.
Cost cutting on the Quad
There was also some more information on what will be happening with the quad in between Apodaca and Stillwell buildings. It was originally supposed to be built alongside the Apodaca building in 2021 to 2022, but there is only $4 million left in the budget, and the original design was too expensive for the amount of money WCU had left, according to Byers. So, they have now reworked the design into something new, with plants and stairs that lead down to the quad from Hunter Library.
“We have got a world-class landscaping team at WCU,” Byers said. “So what we hope we can do is, over time, find some money to put them to work and try to implement some of the plantings that are in here.”
According to Byers, the project will start in June this year, and will last until the summer 2026, weather permitting. Alongside these facilities, there were discussions about the Moore building and several small projects that Western will be working towards in the coming years.
If you would like to watch the Board meetings, the recordings of the meetings can be found on Western Carolina’s YouTube page alongside the slide deck showing the renders.
