From the Head

Infrastructure

By Sheila Culbert

As the temperatures hit the high 90s here in Windsor, I foolishly decided to go check on various campus building projects that are ongoing this summer. While the heat was unpleasant, the construction was inspiring. With this year’s Summer Program fully online and the number of camps reduced as a result of the pandemic, students and most faculty are off the Island this summer, which has provided our Physical Plant team, working in partnership with off-campus construction firms, an opportunity to do some much-needed maintenance work.

First, we have the replacement of the colonnade on the east side of Grubbs Quadrangle at a cost of $2.2 million. Some of the almost 100-year-old columns and supports were in poor shape, and the railings on the Warham and Taylor second floor balconies no longer met the building code requiring us to restrict access to those popular spaces. We did the west side of the quad colonnade last summer and it looks terrific—indeed, you really cannot tell that it is not original, which was one of our most important goals when we started the project. As I write, the work has progressed to the point that the whole east colonnade has been removed and the bare façades of Warham and Taylor are revealed, which is quite startling to see. This project also includes two tastefully designed ramps to make the quad more accessible.

The second big project is the construction of the John D. and Alexandra C. Nichols Center for Theater and Dance for a total budget of almost $15 million. The scope of work involves the complete renovation of the Norris Ely Orchard Theater, which will receive a much larger stage as well as a scene shop, dressing rooms, and new technology, and the addition of a dance studio, black box theater, bathrooms (always a good idea but lacking in the old NEO), and lobby, to better serve our talented dance and theater students. The finished project will also include some landscape enhancements to the Ratté Quadrangle, including the completion of The Way, a pedestrian walkway that winds through campus. Construction on the Nichols Center began in December 2020 and is scheduled for completion in January 2022. We have experienced some supply chain challenges, as many projects across the country have, but to date the project is proceeding as planned. A third, smaller project involves building dugouts for our girls softball team.

Infrastructure, it seems, is on everyone’s minds right now. President Joe Biden has proposed a massive national infrastructure bill, while the tragedy of the collapsed condominium in Miami has us all aware of the dire consequences of aging infrastructure. For

Work begins on the reconstruction of the colonnade in front of Taylor Hall this summer. Photo: Michael Howard

schools like ours, spending on infrastructure is one of our biggest annual expenses along with salaries and benefits and financial aid. Trustees spend a considerable amount of their time trying to balance these three items. This year our operating budget will be close to $60 million with $26.5 million going to salaries and benefits, approximately $11.5 million to financial aid, and just over $4 million allocated to the capital budget, which includes everything from funding construction projects to replacing furniture in dormitory common rooms to buying a new lawnmower for the grounds crew or new uniforms and equipment for athletics. Clearly this latter amount does not cover the cost of the annual infrastructure improvements that are needed.

We cover all new capital projects through fundraising. With the Nichols Center we were very fortunate that John Nichols ’49 remembered his time in the NEO and how formative that experience was for him. He told us that his experience on the NEO stage gave him a confidence before an audience that has served him well over the years. He and his wife, Alexandra, generously gave the lead gift to get that project under way while several other donors, all with their own stories about the NEO or dance, have stepped forward to help with the project as well. We followed essentially the same process with the Scanlan Campus Center, where Patrick and Mary Scanlan ’87 were the lead donors; Cutler Hall, which Sally and Sandy Cutler ’69 funded; and Richmond Hall, given by the Richmond family—Frank ’71, Larry ’72, Elizabeth ’80, Rob, and Phill—in memory of their father, Howie ’35. One of the lovely aspects of a campus like ours is that we are surrounded by buildings that are named for and by generations of Loomis Chaffee families.

This fundraising approach, however, does not work for critical infrastructure projects like the colonnades, the heating plant, or the renovation of the dormitories. While some donors have made provisions for the ongoing maintenance of their dormitory, most have not. After all, our earliest dormitories were named for our first headmaster, Nathaniel H. Batchelder; the first chair of the Board of Trustees, John Metcalf Taylor; and local Windsor dignitaries like minister John Warham. Last year we renovated and expanded both Howe and Batchelder halls, and we will continue with these renovations next summer with Palmer Hall and then Warham and Taylor. We fund these projects through our Plant Fund, a saving mechanism whereby we put aside approximately $3 million each year, as well as any budget surplus, into a savings fund to pay for major infrastructure projects. The fund waxes and wanes each year depending on the projects that need to be covered and currently holds about $15 million. Ultimately the fund will cover the cost of the colonnade replacements as well as the Grubbs Quadrangle dormitory renovations.

Infrastructure may not be front and center when you think about the needs of the school, but ensuring that the school buildings meet the needs of our students and faculty is critically important to the excellent educational and residential experience that Loomis provides.

To see drone footage of the Nichols Center for Theater and Dance under construction, visit www.loomischaffee.org/magazine.

Top: Aerial view of the Nichols Center construction in July, as seen from the east side of campus. The dark red section is the existing Norris Ely Orchard Theater, which is undergoing renovation. On the far left of the photograph is the Richmond Art Center, and in the background are Hubbard and Chaffee halls. Photo: Michael Howard Bottom: The construction site as seen from with west, with the Meadows in the background. Photo: Michael Howard