Construction Underway on New Religion Building at Lee University
Cleveland, Tenn.–Lee University has begun construction of a five million dollar academic building on its campus, and expects to occupy the facility by the end of 2008, it was announced by school officials.
The building, which will face the intersection of Parker and Eighth St., will include classroom space for 620 students and offices for thirty-two faculty members, according to Lee officials.
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Architect’s rendering of new Lee University School of Religion |
The two-story structure will continue the red-brick neo-Georgian design that has been the architectural theme of new construction on the Lee campus in recent years.
“This new building will provide a home for our School of Religion,” said Lee President Dr. Paul Conn, “and we expect it to be one of the busiest and more important buildings on our campus.”
In addition to classroom and office space, the new structure will include a large reading/library room and a student computer center. The most prominent of the nine classrooms will be a 200-seat lecture hall. The lecture hall, along with all other teaching spaces, will be “technology enhanced classrooms”, sharing a quarter-million-dollar technology proposal for the building which has been developed by the university staff.
The front of the building will feature a twelve-sided entrance hall. It will double as a student/faculty lounge, and will be capped by a circular dome and cupola similar to earlier campus structures.
Because the site is at the south end of the campus, Conn said plans include underground utilities for the project, along Parker St. and Eighth St. in keeping with the practice across campus.
“This makes a big difference in the safety and aesthetic quality along Parker Street, and we are committed to working with the utilities, telephone, and cable TV companies to get it done on the south end of our campus.”
Lee University is the largest and oldest higher learning institution of the Church of God. The university, which began as Bible Training School in 1918, is now in its 90th year. Enrollment includes over 4,000 students on the campus of more than 120 acres.
The five-million-dollar project is part of Lee’s capital drive called the “Press Toward the Mark” Campaign, which has a goal of raising $25 million to fund a major new set of campus construction plans.
