ASHLAND — A November electrical fire that damaged the interior of Ashland University’s Amstutz Hall sparked a $10 million renovation project to the building.
“We’re in heavy demolition right now of a lot of spaces in Amstutz, and that’s all to
facilitate a pretty extensive renovation,” Vice President of Operations and Planning
Patrick Ewing said.
From the outside, visitors will notice the exterior face lift; the main brick wall facing Broad Street will be replaced with glass, Ewing said.
“So, we’re going to be bringing a lot of natural light into this space and really creating a
nice aesthetic,” Ewing said.
On the inside, bathrooms will be pod-style, which will look like six private bathrooms on each floor in the center of the building and not connected to the dorm rooms.
Each floor will also have its own study room.
“Similar to what’s in Clayton, where kind of a glass space for two to four people can go in and go group projects or study,” Ewing said.
As for the rooms, each room will now have new air conditioning units, flooring, paint lighting and furniture.
The bedrooms will stay the same size but most will convert into single-person rooms, as opposed to the two-person set up now, for the foreseeable future, Ewing said.
However, there are four corner rooms on each floor that will remain as doubles, equipped with two beds, two desks and two wardrobes.
“I think because this is a newly renovated space, it has air conditioning, the pod
bathrooms, and now if we make them singles, we’ll probably offer them to seniors and
upperclassmen first and see where things land,” Ewing said.
In total, there will be around 150 dorm rooms excluding the ninth-floor apartment-style
housing options.
Special ninth-floor suites
The ninth floor has been the “President’s Suite” since the 1990’s, when former Ashland University president G. William Benz renovated the floor.
“The ninth floor was previously a kind of executive suite; it had a couple of conference
rooms, one very large board room, a dining room and there was actually a small
efficiency apartment up there as well for a guest to stay,” Ewing explained.
“It really hasn’t been used for the last five or six years.”
Now the suite will become apartment-style suites, composed of five, two-bedroom apartments and a one-bedroom apartment that will be fully handicap-accessible.
Housing applications for returning students are approaching quickly. Ashland University’s housing lottery, particularly for limited on-campus apartments, uses a ranked points system based on credit hours, GPA and conduct history.
Students with higher points receive earlier, prioritized time slots to select their rooms in the spring, and the rest enter a general lottery.
Fire derailed master plan
Before the Amstutz electrical fire, the university planned to prioritize other residence hall renovations, including at Jacobs Hall, as laid out in its master plan.
“Jacobs was on the list; it was actually something we were wanting to do as soon as we could find funding. Clark was on the list, but because of the fire in Amstutz, we had to pivot a little bit,” Ewing said.
Instead, the university received major funding to renovate other halls; Amstutz is just one part of the university’s largest dormitory renovation project in its history.
Dwight and Martha Schar — Ashland University alumni who have donated $55 million to the university over the years — donated $15 million toward renovations, allowing the school to move forward in its plan with Amstutz, as well as two other residence halls.
The Schar’s latest gift is the single largest in the university’s history.
Now, Amstutz Hall, Jacobs Hall and the first floor of Andrews Hall will be completely
renovated. Ewing said construction will be complete for Fall 2026 occupancy.
The Ashland Fire Division has not yet definitively determined a cause of the Amstutz fire, but firefighters found an electrical short in the third floor electrical closet.
“Our insurance carrier sent out forensic engineers to try and chase that down, but
there’s been no silver bullet that said, ‘this is what caused it,’” Ewing said.
The November fire left the dorm unusable for the rest of the school year due largely to water damage, displacing the 142 first-year students into another residence hall.
