Older than Walmart and ZIP codes, Weniger Hall, now over 60 years old, has been a mainstay on the Oregon State University campus since its construction.
Weniger Hall, currently scheduled for demolition, will now have a little more time on campus. Its demolition timeline has been pushed back due to other campus construction projects and funding concerns.
Weniger Hall, currently home to the physics and statistics departments at OSU, was completed in 1960 and is named in honor of physicist and former dean Willibald Weniger.
Weniger has been sectioned off for demolition for several years, amidst other construction projects on campus. According to Oregon State University’s Capital Forecast, Weniger Hall’s demolition will eliminate $70 million in deferred maintenance costs and reduce earthquake risk.
The demolition timeline, while not set in stone, was originally slated to begin around 2025. According to an email response from Dustin Seviers, the project manager for Capital Project Delivery for OSU’s Facilities Planning and Management department, Weniger’s demolition is currently planned to begin after the completion of several adjacent and dependent construction projects on campus, including the construction of the new Jen-Hsun Huang and Lori Mills Huang Collaborative Innovation Complex and renovations to the Heat Plant Building and Plageman Hall.
According to Seviers, the construction of the HCIC and the Weniger demolition are dependent due to “the impact each of these projects has on the physical use of that area of campus, and when funding becomes available for the demolition.”
The $200 million HCIC complex — which was funded partially by a $50 million gift from NVIDIA founder and CEO Jen-Hsun Huang and his spouse, Lori Huang, both OSU Alumni — will host an AI supercomputer in addition to other equipment for technology-related research.
The project, located on the north side of campus by Monroe Ave, started construction in April 2024 and is planned to be operational by fall 2027.
Plagemen Hall, the current home of student health services, and the Heat Plant Building, currently vacant, were the planned sites for the relocation of the statistics and physics departments.
The plans for the Heat Plant Building renovation have since been pushed back and put in limbo due to OSU not receiving state funding for the project.
“Not receiving the State funding for the Heat Plant has sent out planning back to the drawing board,” Sievers said.
A hard timeline for the project is not currently in place, with the Weniger demolition being dependent on these other projects, funding and other moving parts.
“The most current/accurate Weniger timeline was for demolition starting within 12 months of completion of the HCIC and new spaces being available on campus for them to move into,” Sievers said.
According to Sievers, Facilities Planning and Management is currently discussing solutions to the funding issue and creating plans to present at the annual Capital Forecast Update this fall, as well as at the Board of Trustees meeting this coming April.
According to email responses from Lan Xue, head of the statistics department, Ethan Minot, head of the physics department and Eleanor Feingold, dean of the College of Science, with the current timeline for the demolition of Weniger and the renovation of the Heat Plant Building being far out and in the air, no post demolition plans are currently in place for relocating the departments that presently call Weniger home.
After the Weniger project is finished, a mobility hub complete with ADA parking, bike parking, transit stops and a park is planned to be built on the land where Weniger currently stands.
