MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia University’s Stansbury Hall will soon be a distant memory, all in the name of business.
Work is progressing on the demolition of Stansbury — the one-time home, decades ago, of WVU basketball, where Jerry West and Hot Rod Hundley played. In its place, Reynolds Hall, the new 180,000-square-foot home of the John Chambers College of Business and Economics, will be constructed and ready for completion in mid-2022.
“Demolition work is progressing well and is currently on schedule to be completed in October,” said Joe Patten, WVU’s executive director of planning, design, construction and scheduling.
“Once demolition is complete, we start construction on Reynolds Hall.”
Reynolds Hall, estimated to cost about $100 million, is being built in large part because of a $10 million donation made by Clarksburg native, Bob Reynolds and his wife Laura. Reynolds graduated from WVU in 1974 with a degree in business and economics. He is the president and chief executive officer of Putnam Investments and chair of Great-West Lifeco U.S.
Javier Reyes, dean of the business school, said at a Board of Governor’s meeting in late July that the new building, along the banks of the Monongahela River, will give business students more access to the river, as well as provide space for river-related events to be held. Stansbury Hall was renamed in the early 1970s for former Athletic Director Harry Stansbury. Home basketball games were played in that building until the WVU Coliseum opened in 1970. Portions of the original basketball court in Stansbury Hall, including the center court logo, have been salvaged and will be incorporated into the WVU Basketball Hall of Traditions.
The Historic Stansbury Hall is coming down 
Historic Stansbury Hall is torn down 
The Historic Stansbury Hall is torn down on Beechurst Avenue. 
Giant scissiors cut through steel beams as the historic Stansbury Hall is torn down. 
Giant scissiors cut throught steel beams as the historic Stansbury hall is torn down.
Other major projects taking place on campus include the $35 million renovation of Hodges Hall and the $41 million in upgrades to the Milan Puskar Center. Areas targeted for renovation at the stadium include the home team locker room — which is more than 10 years old — the player lounge, equipment room, recovery suite, infrastructure, Hall of Traditions, offices, team meeting rooms and other support spaces. All three projects will be funded by a combination of private donations, auxiliary revenue, bonds and cash reserves, the university said.
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