Inside Iowa State

October 22, 2004

Reiman gift pushes alumni project forward

by Jason Menke, ISU Foundation

Private fund raising for an ISU alumni center has reached more than 90 percent of its goal and the project will move forward.

ISU Alumni Association president Jeff Johnson and president Gregory Geoffroy made the announcement during the association's recent 125th anniversary gala.

Roy and Bobbi Reiman of Greendale, Wis., provided the lead gift for the entire construction cost of the new facility. Construction costs are estimated to be $9 million. A $2 million endowment (private gifts) will help complete the facility and support building maintenance.

Contributions for the project -- including the Reiman gift and gifts from nearly 50 other benefactors -- have reached approximately $10 million. The fund-raising effort will continue until the $11 million goal is reached.

Johnson noted that the University of Oklahoma and Iowa State are the only Big 12 schools without dedicated alumni centers.

The new alumni center will accommodate all the association's staff and programs. It will be approximately 30,000 gross square feet and include a visitors' lounge, library, offices, meeting rooms, and a multipurpose office and activity space for the Student Alumni Leadership Council.

It will be built south of C.Y. Stephens Auditorium. Construction will last approximately 18 months and begin after all approval, design and pre-construction processes have been completed. The targeted completion date is middle to late 2007.

"We feel this will be a nice complement to Reiman Gardens," said Roy Reiman, a native of Auburn and a 1957 graduate in agricultural journalism. The Reimans also established the Reiman Gardens complex and have an entrepreneurial scholars and lectures program in the College of Business.

The alumni association moved out of the Memorial Union in July and will be located in Fisher-Nickell Hall until the new center is completed.

At its August meeting, the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, gave the association permission to proceed with planning, including selecting an architect for the project.

Private funding for an ISU alumni center has reached more than 90 percent of the goal. The goal is $11 million. The new center will be built south of Stephens Auditorium.