University Trustee and alumnus Ronald Perelman has committed $20 million to the student center project that will bear his name, according to University President Judith Rodin.
Perelman's donation is the largest single gift earmarked for campus life in the University's history.
It will fund the renovation and restoration of Irvine Auditorium and Logan, Williams and Houston Halls to create student offices, meeting rooms, eating and lounge areas, rehearsal and gallery space and an auditorium with variable seating arrangements.
Perelman Quad plans also call for a two-story glass atrium designed for reading and quiet study to be constructed in the courtyard between Logan and Williams Halls, and the re-landscaping of the patio located between College and Houston Halls to create an urban park. The atrium would be open 24 hours a day.
"This gift expresses my deep regard for the formative role Penn has played in my life and the life of my family for three generations," Perelman said in a statement.
"Judith Rodin's commitment to the quality of student life is a major element of her vision for Penn in the 21st century, and I am proud to be part of that effort," added Perelman, who is the chairperson and chief executive officer of New York's MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings, Inc.
The total cost of the project is now estimated at $69 million, Rodin said, explaining that $9 million in deferred maintenance funding has already been allocated and used for the repair of Logan Hall's exterior.
Class reunion gifts are expected to contribute $2.5 million to the building of the Perelman Quad, placing the amount of funding yet to be secured for the project at slightly below the $40 million price tag Interim President Claire Fagin had given last spring for a scaled-down version of the Revlon Center.
"This has really enormous fund-raising potential," Rodin said. She added that as work progresses, more donors will have the chance to name segments of the complex.
Although Perelman pledged $10 million toward the construction of the Revlon Center in 1988, administrators did not know if he would increase his gift when they scrapped that project earlier this year.
"We have been ambitious and we are thrilled that he concurs with that ambition," Rodin said.
"Ron Perelman's extraordinary generosity will create a true campus center that embodies Penn's goal for the next century -- a seamless integration of students' academic pursuits, their extracurricular activities, and their day-to-day," she added in a statement.
The architectural firm of Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates has been working on a set of plans for the Perelman Quad project for much of this semester, and Rodin said administrators intend to "drive the process [of construction] rapidly."
As early as next week, she expects Provost Stanley Chodorow to create planning committees that will examine how space inside the complex should be used. Because administrators received input on this subject from the University community throughout planning for the Revlon Center, fact finding and decision making can be expedited, Rodin said.
"The program is the same," she said. "What's new is the site and the architectural concept."
Construction of the Perelman Quad -- which is expected to take three years -- should start before the end of this calendar year, Rodin added. Progress will be immediately noticeable because work on separate parts of the complex may proceed simultaneously.
"It's really wonderful," Rodin said, characterizing the new facility as unique among American universities because it will be both modern in what it provides and historic in its ambience.
