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Pelfrey Hall will have a new addition when classes resume for the 2006-07 school year.
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December 7, 2005
MOBERLY, Mo. - Construction on the Pelfrey Hall west wing addition is officially under way as Central Christian College of the Bible administrators held a groundbreaking ceremony at the site today.
The $1.8 million project, which will add classroom space, a new cafeteria and other enhancements to the largest facility on campus, was announced earlier this fall.
The project is expected to take seven months and will wrap up just in time for the 2006-07 school year.
The 15,500-square-foot addition will address several pressing issues on campus for a student body that's grown by over 400 percent since 2001.
The addition features plans for additional classrooms, cafeteria seating, a student life lounge, a handicap accessible elevator, second floor restroom facilities and insulation improvements.
Perhaps the highlight of the project is the construction of a new cafeteria. Since fall 2004, the gymnasium has been serving as cafeteria seating for the school's 500-plus students. The new cafeteria seating will re-open the gym for student life purposes, allowing the return of both the men and women's intercollegiate basketball programs which were cancelled for the current school year.
"We've had problems with classroom space; then there's the issues with the gym being used for a cafeteria which doesn't allow for us to host student life or any other events on campus," CCCB Chief Operating Officer Corey Mehaffy said. "This is going to address many of the issues we're facing right now."
Although the cafeteria situation was a relatively new problem, many of the improvements Pelfrey Hall will receive have been needed for quite some time.
"The elevator is obviously something we've needed for quite a while with the second floor not being handicap accessible," Mehaffy said. "We're adding classroom and office space, second floor restrooms and installing insulated windows in place of all of the old ones. Some of these things are corrections this building needs regardless of whether we add additional space or not."
There will be four new classrooms in the addition. The cafeteria is expected to seat approximately 300 students, and meals will continue to be served in shifts.
The Harvest House, a coffee house that benefits the school's missions program, will be relocated into a new student life lounge. The lounge will house a TV, and the Internet cafe will move from its existing location into the new student life area.
With the current Campaign 500 under way, funding for the project will take a different route than previous campus enhancements.
"We're currently in a campaign for our preaching lab building, so we're not trying to confuse the two with our normal donor base," Mehaffy said. "Basically we're going to use some funds from our operating budget over the next couple of years and then we will do student, alumni and faculty campaigns to help offset some of the expenses. We'll also talk to some of our major donors and the community of Moberly."
Commerce Bank in Moberly recently gave a contribution to the project and Mehaffy said he is hopeful that more of the community can become involved.
L&J Development, Inc. of Moberly will construct the new addition. A webcam will be installed in the coming weeks, allowing online visitors to monitor construction progress.
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