Erie’s Mercyhurst College Gets New $7.3M Academic Center

Fri May 10, 2002 - Northeast Edition
Brenda Ruggiero

Upon its completion, an academic building under construction at Mercyhurst College in Erie, PA, will be the college’s largest and most expensive structure. The winning bid for the 45,000-sq.-ft. (4,180 sq m) building went to Erie’s Building System Inc. for $7.3 million.

The building will be called the Audrey Hirt Academic Center in honor of Audrey Sitter Hirt, a 1949 graduate of Mercyhurst. It is part of a successful $20-million capital campaign that began in October 2000 that recently has reached $16.1 million.

Designed by Weber Murphy Fox architects, the three-story, all-brick structure features collegiate Gothic architecture to complement the Tudor style of Mercyhurst’s Old Main. Two apartment buildings just east of Old Main were demolished to provide space for the center. The building’s signature landmark is a green copper cupola visible from all four corners of the campus. The assembled octagonal cupola was attached to a tower approximately four stories off the ground in February.

The center will house the college’s education, psychology, communications and musical theatre departments, graphics laboratory, and Honors Program. A 244-seat recital hall/auditorium will include a 32- by 72-ft. stage for lectures, movies, recitals and practice for music theater. Other features will include an atrium, 10 classrooms, 18 faculty offices and laboratories and several seminar lecture rooms. In addition, the ground floor will house Mercyhurst’s fine arts radio station, television studios, student newspaper offices, and offices for musical theater.

The contract was awarded in October 2001, with construction expected to be complete by the end of October 2002.

Major subcontractors from the Erie area include Keystone Electric Construction Co.; Mayer Brothers Inc., concrete; Pustelak Inc., masonry; Erie Steel Products; Alex Roofing Inc.; Corporate Glass Etching; Joe B’s Carpet Connection; George H. Althof Inc., plumbing; Rabe Environmental Systems, heating and cooling; and Builders Hardware and Specialty.

According to the Mercyhurst Public Relations Department, the Academic Center will be the third classroom structure to be built on campus. Old Main was built in 1926 when the college opened with only 25 students. Zurn Hall of Science and Fine Arts opened in 1968 when the college enrolled 600 students. Today, the college reports an enrollment of 3,400, with 2,800 at the Erie campus and another 640 on the North East Campus.

Mercyhurst’s 60-acre main campus is located in southeastern Erie; the 84-acre branch center, Mercyhurst-North East, is located 20 minutes from Erie.

Brenda Ruggiero

Brenda Ruggiero has written for CEG for over 20 years. She lives near the town of Accident in far western Maryland. Her favorite assignments so far involved interviews with Survivor’s Boston Rob and hot dog eating champion Joey Chestnut. Both were involved in construction at one time.

Brenda holds a BA in Mass Communication with a writing focus from Frostburg State University and minors in Public Relations and Political Science. She works full time as a staff writer for a weekly newspaper, the Garrett County Republican. She enjoys feature writing the most, which gives her the opportunity to talk to people and share their stories.

Brenda and her middle school sweetheart, Reuben, have been married for over 34 years and have three grown children and four cats.

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