PLANS STILL BEING DEVELOPED TO TURN WILDWOOD INTO FOUNDATION OFFICES

Southeast Missouri State University's Board of Regents could be asked as early as January to approve plans for an addition to the campus' Wildwood home to house offices for the university foundation and alumni services.

Wildwood, which served as the official residence for Southeast's presidents for more than 70 years, would continue to be used for receptions and meetings. It also would house guests of the university.

The house ceased being used as the president's home when Dr. Ken Dobbins took over as president on July 1. Dobbins preferred staying in his existing home in Cape Girardeau.

In July, the regents authorized the university to proceed with an architectural study to determine the feasibility of turning Wildwood into an alumni center.

The project is being pushed by the school's alumni council and the fund-raising Southeast Missouri University Foundation.

The foundation has $494,000 in private money that has been committed to the project. The late Aleen Wehking, a longtime benefactor of the university, earmarked the money for development of an alumni center.

Alumni services and the foundation office currently are housed in a small building on Sprigg Street that years ago housed a migrant center.

Alumni and foundation officials insist the current quarters are inadequate for greeting and entertaining alumni and others who visit their offices.

Wayne Davenport, vice president of university advancement and executive director of the foundation, said the architectural firm of Kennedy Associates Inc. of St. Louis is drawing up a conceptual design and estimated costs for building an addition to the home.

The university foundation is picking up the $10,400 tab for the architectural work, with the money coming from the Wehking donation.

Current plans call for a two-story addition with about 5,000 square feet of space. Davenport said the addition would be smaller than the Sprigg Street facility, but have more usable space.

Linking it to Wildwood would provide the foundation and alumni offices with suitable space for entertaining, Davenport said.

Davenport said any addition would be designed to blend in with the home.

The addition must meet federal requirements for handicapped accessibility. "We are going to have to have an elevator," said Davenport. It also would have ramps and specially equipped restrooms, adding to the cost, he said.

Some limited renovations might be made to Wildwood itself, but no major changes are on the drawing board.

Don Dickerson, president of the Board of Regents, said the regents need to see "concrete numbers" as to cost and a preliminary design before deciding whether to proceed with the project."The money is pretty well there," he said. That's in sharp contrast to most university building proposals where the funds must first be raised.

Dickerson said the university is "begging all the time" for money for building projects.

That isn't the case this time, he said. "It is quite unusual."University officials have talked of moving some athletic department offices into the Sprigg Street building if the foundation office and alumni serves are moved to an expanded Wildwood.

But nothing is set in stone. Dickerson said no plans have been finalized for the future use of the Sprigg Street building.

Still, Dickerson said he has no doubt that the university can use the space. "There is a constant, ever-increasing demand for space."