University Foundation acquires property for presidential residence
The Ohio University Foundation today announced it has entered into a lease agreement for a home and surrounding property, which will serve as the Ohio University presidential residence. The agreement includes a purchase option, which could be exercised contingent on approval from the Foundation Board of Trustees. The previous residence located at 29 Park Place, as recently announced, is undergoing assessment for both environmental remediation and necessary structural repairs. President Roderick J. McDavis and First Lady Deborah A. McDavis had previously been temporarily relocated to the Ohio University Inn, but will now reside in the home on 31 Coventry Lane in the Sycamore Hills Sub-Division in Athens.
At its most recent meeting, Ohio University’s Board of Trustees authorized Vice President for Finance and Administration Stephen Golding to find suitable housing for the presidential residence. If the Foundation exercises the option to purchase the residence under the $1.2 million agreement, it would do so using unrestricted working capital.
Vice President Golding noted that “the residence at 29 Park Place has been a topic of conversation for the Ohio University Board of Trustees dating back to March 2014, when trustees discussed the fact that the center of the Athens Campus had shifted with the construction of the Baker University Center and the renovation of the building that is now the Walter International Education Center, among other changes to the Park Place landscape.” With this shift, trustee discussions have focused on an appropriate location for a future presidential residence in Athens in close proximity to the campus. “The need to relocate the President and First Lady immediately due to 29 Park Place’s environmental issues has accelerated the trustee’s timeline for making this decision,” Golding added.
The property at 29 Park Place serves not only as a domicile for OHIO’s president and family, but also as a facility to host official functions, particularly those relating to alumni outreach and donor relations. “A significant amount of the president’s time is directly connected to alumni outreach and donor relations in support of the Ohio University Foundation,” said Golding. “These uses presented a specific set of requirements to consider when looking for a new location for the president’s residence. The University worked with Athens-area real estate brokers to determine the best options given these requirements.”
Trustee Chair David Brightbill said “the decision to relocate the President and First Lady is not about a temporary fix to a current situation, but rather an investment that provides the University and the Foundation with a number of very interesting possibilities and opportunities for the future development of the campus and our goal for increased donor and alumni development activities on campus.”
“The decision by the foundation to pursue a lease-to-buy agreement is not about the current president but about the recruitment of future presidents. In recent years, the Board has closely monitored the condition of 29 Park Place, studied trends at other institutions relating to residential requirements of presidents, and anticipated that updating housing policies would be needed to better suit the president and the University,” said Brightbill. “The bat incursion has merely accelerated a decision-making process that was already underway. By freeing up a centrally-located facility for academic or student support usage, 29 Park Place will better serve the objectives of our Campus Master Planning process.” [SEE SIDEBAR]
It is the Ohio University Foundation that entered into this agreement, explained Golding, because of the intended nature of the home’s future use for alumni outreach and donor relations. The University will continue to maintain the President’s Residence Budget, which covers the operating cost of the presidential residence. This budget model remains the same as before, when 29 Park Place served as the residence.
“We are happy to support this endeavor,” said Bryan Benchoff, vice president for University Advancement and president and CEO of the Ohio University Foundation. “We successfully achieved our fundraising goal during The Promise Lives Campaign and much of that success is attributed to alumni outreach and donor relations. It makes sense to partner with the University in providing the facilities necessary to ensure that our successful collaboration continues to yield meaningful and significant outcomes for Ohio University faculty, staff, students and alumni.”
For additional information regarding the specifics of the new presidential residence, please refer to this Q&A document.
29 Park Place and the Campus Master Plan
As Ohio University endeavors to assess the highest and best uses of the buildings and land under its purview, the Campus Master Plan will also look more closely at the building and property that formerly served as the president’s residence at 29 Park Place.
The home, recently valued at $931,120 has a good amount of usable space and is centrally located to main campus. A number of potential academic and student support uses have been discussed for that space, said Vice President of Finance and Administration Stephen Golding, but no decisions have been finalized about the future of 29 Park Place. It is important to note, he said, that any unit or college that may utilize that space will be responsible for making the necessary renovations or repairs to the building to make it suitable for future use. The building would also be maintained from the budget of the unit or college that might assume occupancy of it.