May 31, 2017

Archived: Historic Eastman Hall to Get a Face Lift At St. Cloud State University

After a 75-hour special session Minnesota’s state legislature came to a close at 4 a.m. Friday morning. St. Cloud State University and Minnesota State Colleges and Universities got a total of $91 million for campus support in the bonding bill to be shared between 54 campuses.

According to St. Cloud State University Interim President Ashish Vaidya this bill includes about $18.5 million, about 20 percent of the total budget, for the renovation of Eastman Hall on the campus. The president says the remodel will transform the school’s fourth oldest building into a diverse but interconnected set of health and human services-related programs and services.

Vaidya adds it also will strengthen SCSU’s ability to serve a growing diverse student body and develop collaborative interdisciplinary programs to support workforce demands in health and human services.

Eastman was built in 1929 and cost $225,000 to build. It was named after Alvah Eastman, a former St. Cloud resident director to the State College Board. This was used as the original home of basketball, volleyball and swimming.

Eastman holds SCSU’s original basketball court and swimming pool, which is only 4 lanes wide and 20 meters long. The building was used less and less after the opening of Halenbeck Hall in 1965. Eastman recently closed its doors to students.

Thank You Underwriters

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