After housing students for decades, the now-vacant Kruegel Hall is being brought down to make way for a new vision of Washington State University Pullman’s Southside neighborhood.
In the short term, the campus is losing an outdated multi-story building considered impractical to rehabilitate and gaining a potential gathering space near the bustling Southside Café. Campus planners are also taking a longer view of the area, looking at how the vibrant neighborhood can be enhanced to meet the needs and expectations of generations of Cougars to come.
“We’re just getting started,” Cynthia Arbour, a project manager with Facilities Services who is overseeing the demolition project.
After several weeks of asbestos abatement, crews began demolishing the smaller portion of the building in late November. After its stint as a residence hall, the building was used by several departments as office space prior to being vacated a few years ago.
The demolition of Kruegel Hall is scheduled to begin Dec. 16. The total maximum cost of the project is set at $3.5 million.
The state of Kruegel Hall and its attached building made renovation a costly prospect. In addition to the asbestos, the building lacked air conditioning, the heating system was in disrepair, rooms were small and the ceilings were low by modern standards.
“There were a lot of little things working against it that added up to demolition being the most prudent step we could take,” Arbour said.
The two lanes of Stadium Way heading toward central campus will be closed during demolition, as trucks carry out tons of concrete and other debris from the site. One of the two remaining lanes will temporarily be used for central campus-bound traffic during this time. Stadium Way is expected to reopen as normal shortly after New Year’s.
Dedicated in 1957, Kruegel Hall was originally joined with another building, McAllister Hall, with the two residence halls initially occupied by male students. In 1964, female students began living in the buildings, which would henceforth be known as one shared dormitory. The McAllister Hall portion was demolished a dozen years ago, leaving Kruegel and the building that connected the two halls.
Kruegel Hall was named for William C. Kruegel, a former bursar and graduate manager of athletics, while McAllister’s namesake was the Very Reverend Charles E. McAllister, a member of the WSU Board of Regents from 1942–52.
