ANNUAL REPORT ON GIVING - Thunderbird Magazine ...

“It’s one
of the last
buildings
on campus
that has
that
original
Thunderbird
feel.”
Raise a glass
Initiative aims to move Pub to Tower Building
ASTUDENT-ALUMNI initiative is under
way to combine Thunderbird’s two most
cherished places—the Tower Building
and the Pub—as a way for the school to retain
its historic roots.
The group proposes to refurbish the closed
Tower Building and move the Pub into that
space, along with the ThunderShop and a new
student union. The plan also calls for the project
to use environmentally friendly construction
techniques and materials. If all goes according
to plan, the new facility could be open in time
for celebratory drinks by spring 2009.
Falyne Chave ’09, Andrew Burman ’09,
Rebecca Mitchell ’09 and Will Counts ’09
have joined forces with alumnus Bill Johnson
’60, an advisor on the effort, to raise approximately
$2 million to realize the plan. The group
hopes to begin construction no later than fall
2008.
Organizers began fund-raising efforts in
December, appealing first to the T-birds who
were instrumental in getting the Pub built:
1970 graduates. In early February, Thunderbird
Trustee Merle A. Hinrichs ’65, who founded
Global Sources in Hong Kong, pledged
$100,000 to the project. The funds will be
used to commission design plans and start on
improvements, which will include a new roof,
skylights, new trusses and new windows.
The Tower, which in years past held a coffee
shop and student lounge, was closed in 2006
after cracks were found in some of the building’s
wooden support beams. “We don’t want to tear
the entire building down and lose those feelings
tied to the building,” says Counts, who owned a
historic reconstruction company in Kansas City,
Mo. prior to becoming a student.
The effort to move the Pub to the Tower
Building is, in part, being driven by the
possibility of a future sale of the land where the
38-year-old student gathering place now sits.
A rezoning effort is under way for the entire
campus that could allow, at some point, for the
possible sale of land along 59th Avenue.
School officials say they are not actively
seeking to sell or develop those parcels, but are
pursuing the zoning change so the school will
have greater flexibility going forward. “Any future
development of those parcels would occur only
after the school’s core campus has been
upgraded and expanded,” says Thunderbird
CFO Tim Propp.
“It’s one of the last buildings on campus that
has that original Thunderbird feel,” Counts says.
“The Tower has the most emotional attachment.
Doing this would create that central place on
campus again.”
For more information contact Counts at
counts@global.t-bird.edu or, to provide financial
support, contact John McDonald-O’Lear at
john.mcdonald-olear@thunderbird.edu.
22 spring 2008