UNL draws up plans for Whittier fix-up

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By MELISSA LEE / Lincoln Journal Star

It’s finally makeover time for the old Whittier Junior High School building.

University of Nebraska-Lincoln officials have put forth ambitious renovation plans for Whittier, purchased by the NU Foundation in 1983 but largely unused since thanks to a lack of spruce-up funds and confusion over how to best use the 84-year-old building.

But now, UNL leaders say, the time is right.

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Whittier Junior High School, bought in 1983 by the NU Foundation, is facing possible renovation into a child care and research facility in Lincoln (Gwyneth Roberts)

Whittier Junior High School, bought in 1983 by the NU Foundation, is facing possible renovation into a child care and research facility in Lincoln (Gwyneth Roberts)

Whittier timeline

1923: Whittier Junior High School is built at 22nd and Vine streets. It is considered one of the first junior high schools in the country.

1977: The Lincoln Board of Education votes to close Whittier.

1983: The NU Foundation purchases Whittier for $500,000.

1983-2006: City leaders propose a variety of ideas for the building: business offices, research space, housing for married UNL students, offices for LPS administrators, UNL child care center, storage and more. None pans out.

2006: UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman says he’d like to see Whittier become part of a Nebraska Innovation Center, a group of buildings near campus dedicated to research and commercial activity.

June 2007: UNL asks NU regents for approval of plans to convert Whittier into a research and child care facility. Renovation would cost $23.75 million and would be finished in December 2009.

“(Renovation) is critical if we want to keep our momentum going,” Chancellor Harvey Perlman said.

At their meeting Thursday, NU regents will be asked to approve the renovation plans, a multi-year, $23.75 million project that would convert the worn-down Whittier into a state-of-the-art child care and research facility.

Such plans have been a long time coming for the former school, which has been touted by community leaders as a potential home for businesses, office space and even for UNL’s married students.

None of the ideas panned out, largely because none was worth the millions of dollars it would take to equip Whittier to support significant activity, Perlman said.

That’s no longer the case.

Last year, research grants at UNL topped $100 million for the first time, a much-hyped milestone that also served as a painful reminder that campus research space is becoming increasingly squeezed.

And in April, UNL’s child care facility at the YWCA closed, leaving some 90 children and their families stranded and furthering complaints the university lacks the high-quality, on-campus child care it needs to recruit top women faculty and students.

The pending Whittier renovation is meant to ease both ailments.

The main building will be completely updated, with heating, air conditioning, new windows and modern infrastructure. Parts of the building will then be fitted specifically for new offices and lab space, freeing up some 26,000 square feet for energy and transportation research initiatives that together hauled in more than $11 million in grants last year.

Another 47,000 square feet of space will await future renovations, which could make way for more research labs or, Perlman hopes, incubator space for infant companies spun off from UNL research breakthroughs.

Finally, Whittier’s north annex, a one-story, brick structure, will be turned into a 13,000-square-foot child care center that could house up to 150 children.

Pending regent approval, work is set to begin on Whittier in September 2008. The child care facility is scheduled to be finished in August 2009; the research space will open by December 2009.

For Perlman, those dates can’t come fast enough.

He’s long dreamed of establishing a Nebraska Innovation Center, a sweeping corridor of research and commercial activity that would stretch along Vine Street and perhaps beyond, including the Beadle Center, Whittier and the former Cushman plant site at 22nd and Y.

Cushman won’t be available until 2012, after the Antelope Valley Project is finished, but Whittier has been ready for months.

The building’s renovation is critical to continued growth of UNL’s research programs, Perlman said.

“We’re running out of space,” he said.

Simply replacing Whittier isn’t an option for Perlman. Maintaining the building’s historic look is important, he said. Further, university documents show the cost of demolishing Whittier and building another facility that could provide equal square footage would exceed $36 million.

Of course, even for the renovation, the money must come from somewhere. In this case, UNL is tapping private sources as well as its own coffers, Perlman said. He said some private money already has been raised but wouldn’t specify how much.

But he and others feel now is a crucial time to invest in Whittier.

UNL desperately needs a child care center, Perlman said. And more research space will help UNL recruit top faculty and students and should draw even more federal grants, said Prem Paul, research vice chancellor.

“Space for research is premium … I’m really excited about this,” he said. “I hope this becomes a reality soon.”

Reach Melissa Lee at 473-2682 or mlee@journalstar.com.