Drury to cut ribbon on new building

Drury University is preparing to cut the ribbon on its newest building.

A 3 p.m. Oct. 28 ceremony has been scheduled for the C.H. “Chub” O’Reilly Enterprise Center, according to a news release.

The project at the corner of Drury Lane and Central Street includes the three-story Enterprise Center, which will house the Breech School of Business, department of political science and international affairs, The Robert and Mary Cox Compass Center, and high-tech collaborative spaces. Attached to the building is the 12,000-square-foot Judy Thompson Executive Conference Center, a two-story structure for meetings, conferences and workshops, according to past reporting.

Jasmine Cooper, director of university communications and media relations, said classes at the building will not start until January. The holiday months will be used to move furniture into the building and complete other final tasks, she said.

The ceremony next week also is slated to include a mayoral proclamation and the burial of a time capsule.

Nabholz Construction Corp. served as general contractor for the $27 million, 67,348-square-foot building designed by New York City-based Cooper Robertson & Partners LLP and St. Louis-based Trivers Associates Inc., according to past reporting.

The O’Reilly Enterprise Center had been slated for completion this summer, but supply chains issues with project components such as audiovisual equipment, flooring and HVAC systems delayed the student opening to January 2023, according to past reporting.

"There are pieces of the project that have been pushed out," said Brandon Gammill, Drury’s vice president of facilities operations, in a June Springfield Business Journal article. “That’s simply due to supply chain issues and us not wanting to jeopardize it for a lesser material.”