Expansions made on Main and West Campus

By Jen McShane
Collegian Reporter
August 29, 2007

While classes may have ended in May, work on La Salle’s campus continued to plow forward. It has been a goal of the school to expand the campus as well as upgrade some of the buildings at the same time. This took place during the hot summer of 2007.

First, La Salle bought the Germantown Hospital property from the Albert Einstein Healthcare Network. The settlement was concluded May 8, while University President, Br. Michael J. McGinniss, made the announcement to La Salle May 10. A ceremony was held to celebrate May 23. From this purchase, La Salle acquired 25 acres of land, officialy called “West Campus.”

Once the purchase was completed, La Salle began work on renovating parts of the hospital to use as office space. As work was completed inside the hospital, University Advancement, formerly located on the fourth floor of the administration center, was moved into the fifth floor of the old hospital.

At the same time, major changes were also occurring on the Main Campus. The science and technology center needed to be upgraded and expanded to better suit the needs of the growing student body.

To help make room for these changes, it was decided that the building of St. Benilde, located parallel to McShain Hall, needed to come down.

During the weeks of the middle of July, offices in the Benilde building were moved out. Furniture was moved out of Benilde, and the entire building was vacated. Some of the offices that were once housed there, such as University Communications and Alumni Relations, were moved over to West Campus with University Advancement. Other offices located within Benilde, such as the College of Professional and Continuing Studies and Marketing for Graduate and Adult Programs, has moved into the Administration Center, where University Advancement used to reside

Once Benilde was empty, demolition could commence. Late in the week of July 15, yellow tape was put up around Benilde.

Many people gathered outside of the building July 25 to watch as Benilde began to fall. Brother Joseph Grabenstein of University Archives was among those watching. He was seen taking pictures as each piece of Benilde was slowly removed.

It did not take long for Benilde to become a pile of stones. Now, one can stand at the Union and see directly across to Holroyd.

While these changes were major to the La Salle landscape, more changes are to come.

Along with the 25 acres purchased with Germantown Hospital, La Salle has also another site near West Campus, which adds another 4.5 acres to La Salle’s growing campus. It has yet to be decided what will be done with this land.

McGinniss is also “anticipating the groundbreaking for the Shoppes at La Salle, the retail development on the Good Shepherd property” to begin sometime in fall.

mcshanej1@lasalle.edu