Grauel Building renovations at Southeast are nearly complete

Updates to Southeast Missouri State University’s Grauel Building should be complete by July 14, according to a facilities-management capital-projects update report.

Phil Powers, project manager with K & S Associates, said the building should be ready for the fall semester, even though work was extensive. The project cost more than $4 million.

“All ductwork and electrical and plumbing systems were replaced,” Powers said, as well as the interior and exterior doors.

Windows were upgraded, and the ramp from Normal Street into Rose Theatre was made compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The entire floor plan also was changed, Powers said.

“It was a massive demolition,” he said, between knocking out masonry walls and rearranging spaces.

The Pacific Street entrance now opens into a foyer flanked by two common areas for student use, and the first floor includes a data center for students to plug in laptops or tablets to access the internet, Powers said.

In addition to existing group bathrooms on the first and second floor, two single-occupant restrooms have been added to each floor, and each restroom has new fixtures, lighting, sinks and mirrors, Powers said.

Grauel’s third floor had no restrooms before the renovation work.

Office space has been rearranged as well, Powers said.

Ceilings and floors have been updated, with a luxury vinyl tile in the foyer, and rolled carpet in common areas and offices.

“Pretty much, you name it, it’s been changed,” Powers said.

Renovations began Jan. 9, Powers said. New furniture and equipment will be moved in beginning July 17, he said.

Two computer labs will be added to the third floor, Powers said, one for Macs and one for PCs.

The building’s interior will be painted after all other work is complete, Powers said.

“The people here have been great to work with,” Powers added.

The Grauel Building, named for longtime English professor Harold O. Grauel, was built in 1965 and originally was called the Language Arts Building. The building has housed the departments of English, mass media, theatre and dance, and speech and communication disorders.

When the River Campus was completed in 2006, the theatre and dance department moved there.

The speech and communication disorders department still will be in Grauel after renovations are complete, with clinics housed next door in the Center for Speech and Hearing, completed in 2017, department chairwoman Marcia Brown-Haims said.

The English, speech and communication disorders and mass media departments were relocated temporarily during the renovation, according to a December news release from the university.

The 500-seat Forrest H. Rose Theatre, attached to the Grauel Building, is not included in the renovations.

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3630

Pertinent address: 909 Normal Avenue, Cape Girardeau, Mo.