Seminary kicks off renovation project

Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, launched a major renovation project with a brief ceremony March 18 outside its Chapel of St. Timothy and St. Titus.

Urged by a crowd of students, faculty, staff and others to “tear down this wall,” seminary President Dr. Dale A. Meyer used an excavator to knock down a portion of a wall outside the seminary’s Koburg-Wartburg dining complex.

The Phase One project includes construction of a new entrance for the complex, a complete renovation and upgrade of the kitchen, renovation of the dining hall, additional space on the third floor of the complex and the addition of meeting spaces on the second floor, relocation of the Re-Sell It Shop and food bank on the lower level, and a new outdoor courtyard. 

Additional fire exits and a sprinkler system also will be added, as well as upgrades to the sewer system on that part of the campus.

Funding for the Phase One project was made possible by the seminary’s “How Will They Hear?” campaign, which concluded last year and raised more than $80 million for financial aid and seminary operations; campus renovations; and the endowment.

“We are most grateful to all those who have assisted the seminary with their gifts to this endeavor,” Meyer said.  “The benefits to those who use our campus will be many.”

A video posted on the seminary’s website shows Meyer signing the construction contract and, later, taking part in the Phase One kick-off.

“We are thrilled, I am thrilled, that we have committed ourselves over the years that the Lord gives us, to improve this campus, to bring it up-to-date, to reduce our deferred maintenance and make the infrastructure what is necessary for many years of service in the 21st century,” Meyer says in the video, pen in hand.

“The signing of the contract for the renovation of our dining hall complex is one step in that direction, and it’s a sign that we want our campus community — it is a sign that we want all of you and the church at-large — to know that Concordia Seminary is moving forward.”

To view the video and project plans, including progress reports on the renovation, visit http://phaseone.csl.edu/.

Posted April 4, 2011

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