ST. CLOUD -- Another historic building on the campus of St. Cloud State University will be getting a facelift.

"We're reutilizing, we're bringing life back to it instead of tearing it down and starting over."

Eastman Hall's roots have been on campus since 1929 and now it will be going through an $18.5 million renovation. Corie Beckermann is the Director of Student Health Services at St. Cloud State. She says it will be nice when all of the services are under the same roof.

"The student service areas that will be housed in this space currently are located in different places on campus."

Beckermann says once the building is upgraded it should be a go-to spot for students.

"We're hoping this will be a destination for students to be able to meet each other. To just hang out between classes but then walk right through the building to the other side where we are going to open it up and have a patio along the Mississippi River. So really incorporating nature."

Beckermann says the renovations will include the construction of three floors to house the School of Health and Human Services.

"There will be some classroom space on the first floor all of our Healthy Huskies, UCHOOSE, which is our alcohol and drug education program, all of those things are housed on the first floor. It's a lot of moving parts."

One of the goals of the project is to incorporate as much of the past into the present, even keeping some of the original pool tiles is in the works.

"They have been able to salvage some of the tiles and we'll be incorporating those into the new building. We really want to honor the history of the building and not forget about the pool that was here."

Along with the pool tile, Beckermann says they plan on refurbishing the metal balconies and lantern lights on the outside of the building as well as salvaging the big "SC" logo on the gym floor.

SCSU will be hosting tours Friday and Saturday to give everyone the chance to see Eastman Hall one last time before the renovations. Tours will go from 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. both days.

Construction is expected to begin in January, with the project slated to be finished by fall 2019.

(Alex Svejkovsky, WJON)
(Alex Svejkovsky, WJON)
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