New school of business building faces delays

Written by: Alissa Flores

The new Ruth McKee School of Business, which is under construction near Southern Adventist University’s entrance, will cost more and take longer to complete than originally anticipated, according to Southern President Ken Shaw.

“Our initial estimate was [for it] to be completed by December of 2025 so it would be operable in the Winter 2026 term,” Shaw said in an interview with the Accent. “The new estimate is that the building will be completed in the summer of 2026. The delay will have minimal impact.”

“I was looking forward to the new building and utilizing it. I feel disappointed expecting a date that was promised to be pushed back more than a year.”

Marty Hamilton, associate vice president of Financial Administration, reiterated this sentiment. 

“It causes no disruption to our current academic programs within the School of Business,” Hamilton said. “The only impact would be seniors graduating who missed being part of the grand opening and taking classes during their last year.”

In contrast, Sharon Duque, a junior majoring in finance and accounting and Vice President of Operations for the SMARRT Fund, stated, “I was looking forward to the new building and utilizing it. I feel disappointed expecting a date that was promised to be pushed back more than a year.” 

According to Shaw, administrators from the School of Business, Academic Administration and Financial Administration met to re-evaluate the original plans for the building. After careful examination, the group decided to add 11,000 square feet to the building.

When asked how this affected the project’s budget, Shaw said, “We had estimated the project to be $20 million. The project amount was to include the construction of the building and to have funds be placed in an endowment to support the School of Business. Adding the additional square footage moved the construction portion from $15 million to $18.8 million, so at the time this was still within the $20 million [estimate], projected for the overall campaign.”

According to Shaw, another element administrators had to factor in was an update to their original estimated price for the building’s construction. The initial estimate of $350 per square foot was based on the cost to build the Bietz Center of Student Life, which was completed in 2021, but labor and material costs have increased since then. 

“We should have adjusted the cost estimate and the campaign total to be approximately 20% higher, or between $23 million or $24 million,” Shaw said.

Due to the increases in both size and cost, administration is looking for alternate ways to reduce expenses and raise additional funds for the project, according to both Shaw and Hamilton. They said Southern is using value engineering to review some of the plans and find the best quality options at the lowest available price, as well as competitive bidding. This is in an effort to find savings and possible improvements. 

“Ultimately, we don’t want to be short-sided on building a legacy building for the Ruth McKee School of Business and our students into the future,” Hamilton said. “ We want to make good decisions and maintain quality for a building that will be here for the next 75 years.”

“Sometimes a pause in a project bring about better solutions. This new building allows us to have room to expand.”

According to a previous Accent article, the initial size of the building included blueprint plans to host five study rooms for group projects and study sessions, as well as a multi-functional auditorium that would host 350 students. Shaw shared that these plans have now changed. After much deliberation,  the auditorium has been resized to fit 400 students, and the classrooms have also been expanded, due to the school’s  current size and anticipated increase of enrollment in the future.

“The promise of a new building is like an investment in us business students, giving us the resources and attention we deserve.”

Duque expressed her experience as a student in the School of Business, sharing that with the current number of students enrolled, she sees the lack of space in Brock Hall. She often hears of people having business classes in Daniells Hall, Mabel Wood Hall, and the 1st floor of Brock Hall, which houses the School of Journalism and Communication. Duque stated that they really need this new building. 

“A five-year history was evaluated on the size of classrooms and labs so we fully understand the need,” Hamilton said. “After reviewing the need, we determined that some classrooms had to be resized.  We needed more 40-60 classroom seating versus smaller ones that sat 12-15.”

As construction progresses, the Ruth McKee School of Business will continue to undergo careful evaluation to meet the needs of Southern’s growing business programs. President Shaw remains optimistic about the project’s overall success.

“The building will be a state-of-the-art facility that includes a Business Innovation Center, SMARRT Fund Finance Lab, entrepreneurship team space, collaborative study areas and tech-driven classrooms,” Shaw said.

Hamilton stated that despite the brief delay, the future of the Ruth McKee School of Business is promising. 

  “Sometimes a pause in a project brings about better solutions. This new building allows us to have room to expand,” he said. “It gives us the potential to add more professors and grow new programs as we recruit more majors.  It’s really a win-win for the future of Southern!”

Duque said the building will benefit future generations, and they will appreciate it as the nursing students appreciate the Advent Health building. 

“The promise of a new building is like an investment to us business students, giving us the resources and attention we deserve,” Duque concluded.