With demolition work being done to uncover construction flaws, Hilltopper Hall will be closed until fall 2026 as repairs are scheduled to begin in the coming months, according to the Student Life Foundation legal team.
The Foundation’s board officially signed Reeves & Young (R&Y) – a construction company with offices in Atlanta, Nashville and Greenville, South Carolina – to a Construction Management Services contract on Sep. 17, according to an email from WKU Director of Facilities Management Ken Branch.
“We don’t have a total cost estimate yet,” Tad Pardue, a lawyer for the Foundation, said in an email to the Herald. “The hope was to maybe have that by year end. The timeline remains to have the building fully repaired and ready for students by the fall 2026 semester.”
Catherine LaRoche, the Foundation’s director and WKU assistant vice president for student engagement, said in an email the only work done on the residence hall to date is “selective exposure work” in order to confirm existing conditions.
“This is required to complete the reconstruction design”, LaRoche said.
Hilltopper Hall, WKU’s state-of-the-art residence hall that opened in 2018, abruptly closed in February, due to several design and construction flaws that were discovered by industry professionals in the fall of 2023.
The Herald found several documents through a records request over the summer that the building consistently failed state building codes and an “inferior quality workmanship” that led to significant strain on the building’s structural components and failure in supporting its exterior veneer.
Pardue acknowledged in an interview with the Herald in August that removing and replacing the veneer may be something the Foundation is “forced to consider” in the design and repair of Hilltopper Hall.
In an email on Friday, Nov. 15, Pardue said stripping the veneer is still “a likely scenario,” but he said he does not think a final decision has been made by the designers.
“I think they’re getting close,” Pardue said.
Pardue said R&Y will be working with Brown+Kubican Structural Engineers – the engineering company that was hired by the Foundation to assess the dorm in 2023 – to design the repairs.
LaRoche said R&Y was chosen by a selection panel through a Request for Proposals process.
“The Board considered and even interviewed multiple firms before choosing R&Y,” Pardue said. “I know one of the factors that drew them to R&Y was R&Y’s existing presence and work on campus and what I understand was a very positive report from WKU about its experience thus far with R&Y.”
R&Y previously worked on the new Houchens Stadium press box, which began construction in December 2023 and was finished in time for the Hilltopper football team’s home opener against EKU on Sep. 7.
LaRoche said R&Y is also currently working on WKU’s new practice facility, the Hilltopper Fieldhouse, which was set for a late 2025 completion.
News Reporter Cameron Shaw can be reached at [email protected].
