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New Place To Call Home
Construction on expansion and renovation of The Inn
at Ole Miss set to begin this summer
by Jim Urbanek
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
6,800-square-foot ballroom, a café, a fitness center and
multiple meeting rooms.
The $18.5 million
campaign to enhance The Inn at Ole Miss was not undertaken lightly, says Senior
Associate Director of Alumni Affairs and campaign coordinator Tim Walsh, adding
that Hurricane Katrina pushed up construction costs by 25 percent.
The Alumni Association
plans to complete the expansion and renovation project in three phases. Phase 1,
which is scheduled to begin this summer, includes the eight-story tower,
ballroom, pre-function gallery, all of the infrastructure, kitchen, laundry and
parking.
 Phase 2 includes
renovating the current hotel lobby into a fitness center for hotel guests,
adding a business center and converting the current snack bar into office space
for Alumni Association staff. In addition, hotel rooms that are currently used
as office space by alumni staff will be renovated, as will the current
president’s suite.
A pitched roof will
replace the flat roof on the current hotel in Phase 3. Plans for the third phase
also include adding a pedestrian bridge from the hotel to the Ford Center for
the Performing Arts and extensive landscaping.
“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.
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 square feet. 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 and
microwave. The bathroom will be accessible from both rooms of the suite.
The tower’s top two
floors will contain 10 special suites. Two suites are 1,133 square feet, and the
remaining eight are 820 square feet. Each special suite includes two bedrooms,
two baths, three televisions, a balcony, a parlor, a sofa bed, a wet bar, a mini
fridge and a full kitchen.
 “Ole Miss’s reputation
as a great American public university is spreading,” says David Brevard,
campaign chair and 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 the 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 want to be able to offer upgraded
hotel rooms to our alumni and friends. The current hotel only has standard
rooms. That is why we are only adding suites.”
Walsh says more
meeting space is also desperately needed. The hotel and Alumni Center now have
only one auditorium and one small boardroom.
“The new
state-of-the-art ballroom and 2,700-square-foot pre-function area planned for
the hotel will be able to meet the needs of everyone who stays at the Inn,” he
says.
 The ballroom is
designed so that it can be divided into four equal sections, allowing the space
to handle as many as four separate meetings at once. 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. “Outreach and Continuing Education will
use it widely both for on-campus events and their distance-learning classes. We
hope that other departments within the university will make the most of it as
well.”
Other plans for the
expansion include the addition of a 3,200-square-foot industrial-size kitchen,
which will primarily be used for catering. A commercial laundry also will be
installed in the hotel. In the past, that service has been outsourced, and Walsh
expects the in-house laundry to provide a significant savings in the long run.
“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.”
In addition to
conferences, The Inn at Ole Miss attracts growing numbers of parents of
prospective students, professionals on business trips, performing artists,
government figures and others, Brevard says.
“The increase in enrollment over the past years also contributed to bringing
many first-time visitors to the Inn,” he says. “The success of our athletics and
our continuing education programs means a bigger hotel is vital.”
Individuals or organizations can learn more about donor naming opportunities and
tax-deductible sponsorships for The Inn at Ole Miss by calling Walsh at
662-915-7375 or e-mailing
tim@olemiss.edu.
Or visit
www.olemissalumni.com. AR
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