After nearly two years of work on the building, The Tatem Arts Building’s renovations and improvements have finally ended, according to Hood College officials.
Treasurer Charles Mann, vice president for finance at Hood, said that the project to improve Tatem was officially completed in August. In addition to Tatem’s renovations, new carpeting and painting were also implemented for Whitaker Campus Center and Meryan Hall over the summer.
The new addition to Tatem includes handicap-accessible entrances, sprinklers and fire alarms, an elevator, new carpeting and painting, and new Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant restrooms on every floor. Prior to the summer, the building was not handicap-accessible.
“The background for the project was that it was an accessibility upgrade project,” Jim Thomas, the facilities director and project manager from 2015-2016, said. “As we do every year, we pick a building to do a capital improvement. Every year, we try to improve an academic building and revitalize one of the dorms.”
Tatem gained nearly 7000 square feet of new space thanks to the construction. While Price Auditorium was removed from the building, the psychology department was also relocated into the space formerly used as the attic.
The project, including renovations on The Hodson Science and Technology Center’s third floor from 2014, costed an estimated $8.3 million. Of the amount spent, $2.5 million was received from the state of Maryland, and $2 million came from donors to Hood.
Some delays to the project were caused by the discovery of additional space under Price Auditorium in Tatem. Its excavation allowed for four more classrooms to be added to the renovated building.
Regarding future construction projects, Mann said that there are plans to convert the Beneficial-Hodson Library into a learning commons in 2018-2019. He described the shift as turning the building into a space where people can interact and work on academic projects better.
“It was a little longer than I had hoped for, and cost a little more than we had originally hoped,” Mann said about Tatem’s improvements. “But, in the end, it was all worth it.”
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