The renovation of the University of Arizona’s oldest building is winning accolades for historic preservation, but donors still aren’t stepping up to cover the cost.
The $13.5-million makeover of iconic Old Main, approved in 2012 on condition it be paid for with donations, is about $10 million short more than two years after the first contribution came in.
While donors routinely give tens of millions a year to other UA causes, the Old Main project has attracted $3.03 million since 2013, said Barry Benson of the UA Foundation, the university’s fundraising arm.
Benson said fundraisers are hoping for a boost in giving after the planning, design and construction team that worked on Old Main recently won several state and regional awards.
In May, the team received a Governor’s Heritage Preservation Award for “outstanding achievement in preserving Arizona’s prehistoric and historic resources.”
Portions of the landmark had become unstable with age, and further deterioration was predicted had the work not been done.
The team also won a Tucson-Pima County Historic Preservation Award and a Design Build Award from the western Pacific region of the Design-Build Institute of America.
“We anticipate the recent positive events will accelerate a number of ongoing giving conversations with potential donors,” Benson said of the awards.
Some prominent UA alumni have said publicly they withheld donations to protest UA President Ann Weaver Hart’s decision to move her executive suite to Old Main and refurnish it, an expense they saw as unnecessary.
Hart and her supporters say the move made sense because the central location allows her more interaction with UA students.
“The beautiful restoration of Old Main has allowed it to reclaim its rightful place as the hub of the UA campus,” Hart said in a statement on the school’s website after the recent awards were announced.
Without enough money to pay for the work, the university has had to use savings and tap an emergency building repair fund to cover costs until donations arrive.
