12/21/2016
By Ed Brennen

Construction is nearly complete on the new home of the Manning School of Business, the Pulichino Tong Business Center, with the ribbon-cutting ceremony tentatively scheduled for Commencement weekend in mid-May.

“Most of the building’s systems are in and we’ve already started the commissioning process,” says Project Manager Rupinder Sembhi of the Facilities Management department. “We are looking good on the construction side.”

Commissioning of the $47 million building, which means verifying systems such as plumbing, electrical, HVAC and fire safety, is expected to be completed by mid- to late-January. A temporary certificate of occupancy will then be issued, with furniture slated for delivery in mid-February.

Plans call for moving faculty offices to the new building in mid-March, and Dean Sandy Richtermeyer says the school hopes to begin hosting events in its gleaming new home by the spring.

Image by Ed Brennen

“The building is going to bring our students and faculty together in new ways,” Richtermeyer says. “It will be a great community-builder.”

The building, at 54,801 square feet, will include 10 classrooms on the first and second floors and faculty offices on the second, third and fourth floors. A state-of-the-art trading room will be featured prominently on the ground floor, as will a stock ticker suspended in the lobby’s open four-story atrium.

The building’s main staircase is painted a bold orange, which can already be seen prominently at night from University Avenue. The color matches the hallway that connects the business school to the first floor of the recently renovated Lydon Library. The business center and the Mark and Elisia Saab Emerging Technologies and Innovation Center form the backbone of the North Campus Innovation District, which brings the university’s engineering, science and business programs together for students, entrepreneurs and industry partners.

Image by Ed Brennen

“The new building will help us be more innovative about how we interact with each other and how we engage with the campus at large,” says Richtermeyer, who adds that the project wouldn’t have been possible without the school’s many generous alumni, most notably John Pulichino ’67 and his wife, Joy Tong.

“We are so incredibly grateful to them,” Richtermeyer says. “This state-of-the-art facility gives everyone in the Manning School new energy.”

Administrators hope to hold summer courses in the new building before opening the doors for the fall 2017 semester.