Photo by Jana Wiersema | The Republic Ivy Tech-Columbus Chancellor Steven Combs talks with local board members and other individuals who recently toured the interior of Moravec Hall under construction on the Columbus campus.
Progress on Ivy Tech Community College’s new campus building in Columbus continues, with the college planning to move in this spring.
Local trustees and other individuals recently toured the interior of Moravec Hall after a Feb. 8 campus board meeting.
“You really get, now, how architecturally unique this building is when you walk through it,” said Chancellor Steven Combs. The board’s next meeting, scheduled for April 12, will be its last in Poling Hall, he said.
Ivy Tech – Columbus Director of Marketing Chris Schilling said that the college will take possession of Moravec Hall on May 19.
They plan to move some “instructional items” into the building in March and also install some furniture, equipment and other fixtures at that time. According to the scheduled timeline, labs will move during the second week of May, faculty and staff will move in on the week of May 16, and the first “operational day” will be May 24.
Director of Instructional Sites Erica Speer said that while the project has seen delays, lead contractor Pepper Construction continues to implement “creative solutions” and is working to catch up. According to the company’s progress report, material delays are an ongoing concern.
In discussing details of the project, Speer said that the building’s permanent roof is currently being installed.
“Drywall is about 95% complete in the entire building,” she added. “They’re currently working on pulling some wire to the electrical panels in those locations. … Painting is obviously ongoing and continuing on the first floor, and then we’ve started some flooring and concrete polishing on the second floor. So it’s really taking shape.”
Combs has said in the past that the project isn’t just a new main campus building, but actually a completely new campus for Ivy Tech Columbus, with the new building becoming the entryway to the Columbus AirPark and to the entire Learning Center campus.
Ivy Tech announced in February 2020 that it had selected IwamotoScott Architecture of San Francisco to design the building. A grant from Cummins Foundation Architecture Program is paying for the architectural design fee.
The approximately $32 million, 80,000-square-foot structure will replace the aging Poling Hall. Ivy Tech officials announced in fall of 2021 that the new building would be named Moravec Hall after local entrepreneur, Ivy Tech donor and former state trustee Tony Moravec.
While the college plans to move into Moravec Hall this spring, the building’s ribbon cutting ceremony is set for Oct. 5.
“We’re going to tie it in conjunction with our state board of trustees meetings,” said Ivy Tech Foundation Executive Director of Development Therese Copeland. “So it is going to be two full days of insanity for our team, but it’ll be an exciting time, and we’d just like to capitalize on that.”
She added that the ceremony will also tie in with advancements at the Columbus Learning Center.
