Campus Construction Update, November 6, 2024

On this latest episode, University Communications' Dave Blanks sits down with Nick Katers, App State’s associate vice chancellor of facilities management, to talk about the new addition to Peacock Hall — home of the largest undergraduate College of Business in the University of North Carolina System. The two discuss the history of the Walker College of Business, the reasons behind the expansion to Peacock Hall and what the App State Community can expect during and after the project. Katers shared that this $40 million project, set to be completed in August 2026, is part of a phased campus transformation that will ultimately include the long-awaited daylighting of Boone Creek to bring natural spaces to the Boone campus. Find out what’s next for this landmark project at App State! (This episode was recorded Sept. 18, 2024.)

 

 

 

TRANSCRIPT

Dave Blanks:

Hey folks. How's it going? I'm Dave Blanks from University Communications back with another campus construction update. I am joined today in studio by Nick Katers, Associate Vice Chancellor of Facilities Management. Howdy, Nick. How's it going?

Nick Katers:

Dave, it's good to be a part of this first one on video.

Dave Blanks:

Man, I know. I'm excited. It's very different. We've been exposed. Here we are. This is what we actually look like.

Nick Katers:

Right.

Dave Blanks:

Yeah, so we'll see how it goes. Today's topic is Peacock Hall, the addition to Peacock. Here's the plan for today. We'll see if I pull it off. We're going to start off with a little history lesson that'll take us up to present day just about the College of Business at Appalachian State.

Nick Katers:

Sure.

Dave Blanks:

After I get through with that, we're going to discuss the need for the addition, which is the topic today, and then we'll share some details on what that addition consists of, who it's going to benefit, how long is it going to take, what's the impact that we're going to deal with while it's being constructed and then just some of the positive stuff that's going to happen after it's built.

Nick Katers:

Great. Okay.

Dave Blanks:

So, yeah, how does that sound? Good plan?

Nick Katers:

It sounds good.

Dave Blanks:

I'm going to start out with my history lesson of the College of Business. Before I went to business.appstate.edu, I knew some of this, I didn't know all of this. We're starting in 1970, when the College of Business is officially founded at Appalachian State. So when it started, small and business classes were held in Smith-Wright Hall, which was part of the New Deal. It was a public works administration building, funded and completed by the PWA, and it was completed in 1940. Interesting little bit of history there. It's the current home of the Department of Psychology and it's right next door to us. But they weren't in there for long because Walker Hall was completed in 1975 and the College of Business moved there in '76. Walker College of Business and Walker Hall are both named in honor of John A. Walker. He was a Lowe's Company's founding director and always a strong supporter of Appalachian State and the College of Business.

15 years later, 1990, faculty and staff moved from Walker into a new College of Business building, 130,000 square feet, four-story structure in the middle of App's campus, named and dedicated in honor of Thelma, C. Raley. The dedication came in '93, the building was built in 1990. Then in 2014, with the Raley family's blessing, Raley Hall became Peacock Hall in honor of outgoing Chancellor Dr. Kenneth Peacock. And that takes us up to the addition is the next thing. But yeah, interesting history of the Walker College of Business. You can check it out at business.appstate.edu and we'll also put it in the show notes. Today's topic is the addition at Peacock Hall. So can we discuss a little bit about the need for the addition? We've mentioned it on previous campus construction updates, but why do we need an addition to Peacock?

Nick Katers:

Well, I think you could start out with just by looking at the age of Peacock, former Raley Hall, like you said, built in 1990. It's 30 years old, so it was time to start considering a renovation. So a renovation of 130,000 square foot building is pretty expensive. At the same time the college of business is growing and growing and growing and it's literally bursting from the amount of students that are now involved in this program.

Dave Blanks:

What were you telling me that about the-

Nick Katers:

It's the largest undergraduate college of business in the UNC system.

Dave Blanks:

Wow.

Nick Katers:

And you wouldn't think that here. We're famous for a lot of things, teachers, nurses, stuff, but the College of Business, it was a little unexpected to hear that fact.