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 Inn
at Ole Miss Campaign Halfway to Goal Only four months into the public phase of a campaign to expand and renovate the Inn at Ole Miss, half of the funds required to complete the project have been secured. Formerly the Triplett Alumni Center Hotel, the Inn at Ole Miss expansion will include an eight-story tower with 40 two-room suites and 10 larger special suites, a 6,832 sq. ft. ballroom, a café, a fitness center, multiple meeting rooms and more. The eight-story story tower will connect to the north end of the current hotel. The first floor of the tower will contain the hotel lobby, registration area and boardroom. Floors two through six will contain 40, two-room suites. Each suite is 610 sq. ft. The bedrooms in each suite will have two queen size beds, a television, a desk and a vanity. The parlor will have a sofa bed, another television a wet bar, mini fridge, microwave and one bathroom accessible from both rooms of the suite. Other plans for the expansion include the addition of a 3,200 sq. ft. industrial size kitchen, which will primarily be used for catering.  The
$18.5 million campaign to renovate The Inn at Ole Miss was not
undertaken lightly, Associate Director of Alumni Affairs Tim Walsh says. “It’s been the dream of the Alumni Association and our volunteers for many years to renovate the hotel to further enhance our beautiful campus,” says Walsh, campaign coordinator. Campaign Chair David Brevard of Tupelo, Miss., agrees. “Ole Miss’s reputation as a great American public university is spreading,” says Brevard, 1999-2000 Alumni Association president. “Excellence is spreading in every aspect of the campus. We felt that we needed a hotel that exhibits this standard and is comparable to the other buildings on campus. We felt we needed a hotel that is reflective of our university, one that will help strengthen our relationship with everyone who uses The Inn at Ole Miss.” Based on advice of consultants and a 2003 feasibility study, renovation of the hotel was validated. Built in 1951 as the Alumni House, The Inn at Ole Miss had additions in 1954 and 1968 and was renovated in 1996. “We want a facility that will keep up with the other wonderful changes that have taken place on this campus in the last 10 years,” says Walsh. “We wanted to be able to offer upgraded hotel rooms to our alumni and friends. All the hotel has now are standard rooms. That is why we are only adding suites.”  Walsh
says more meeting space was also desperately needed. The hotel and
Alumni Center now only have one auditorium and one small boardroom.
“The new state-of-the-art ballroom and 2,700 square ft prefunction area planned for the hotel will be able to meet the needs of everyone who stays at the Inn,” he says. The ballroom will be able to be divided into four equal sections so it can handle four separate meetings at once or it can be used as a breakout room for a conference. Walsh also believes the ballroom will be good for the reunion program. “I believe it will enhance our reunion program with school-based reunions, special group reunions and university-wide reunions,” he says. University Outreach both for on-campus events and their distance learning classes will use it widely. We hope that other departments within the university will make the most of it as well.”
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“To
have a larger hotel is not just a dream, but a need,” says Warner
Alford, executive director of Alumni Affairs. “A bigger hotel means more
conference rooms to host the increasing number of academic functions and
conferences held at Ole Miss. It is important for us to keep up with the
university’s role as a top research institution in the South.”