U. surpasses its fundraising goals for Perelman Quad project

There are only 43 shopping days left until Christmas, but Penn still has some rather unique "gift opportunities" for enterprising -- and wealthy -- members of the University community. While Penn development officials have surpassed their initial $38 million fundraising goal for the $82.6 million Perelman Quadrangle project, several multimillion-dollar areas of the five-building complex are still available for naming -- at a price. The Perelman Quad project, which was announced in 1995 and named for University Trustee and 1964 Wharton graduate Ronald Perelman -- who donated $20 million to jumpstart the initiative -- is the University's plan to connect Williams, Logan, College and Houston halls with Irvine Auditorium to create a campus hub with expanded food-service, study and meeting spaces in the heart of campus. "There are some really great spaces that can still be funded," said Joanne Hanna, the development official in charge of fundraising for the Perelman Quad. "The opportunities are really endless." Hanna added that the University is "not actively fundraising" for the project anymore, and she expects only about $1 million more to be raised, potentially leaving many parts of the complex without a donor's name. Late last month, the University Board of Trustees approved the final $40.1 million in expenditures for the project, which will be funded by a combination of past development efforts and money raised from past bond issues. More than $39.7 million has been raised to date, with donations ranging from $25,000 to gifts in the tens of millions of dollars. Any additional external fundraising would offset the costs being incurred by the University for the project. Several of the main areas of the complex have already been "sold" to some well-to-do University alumni. Perelman has the complex named for him as its lead donor; 1963 College graduate and casino mogul Steve Wynn -- also a Trustee -- donated $7.5 million in 1995 for the outdoor commons in the middle of the complex; and David Silfen, a 1966 College graduate and recently elected Trustee, donated $2 million in 1996 to fund the two-story study center that will be built on the exterior of Williams Hall. Additionally, the reunion classes of 1949, 1964, 1969 and 1974 are now planning to raise a total of $1.85 million in anticipation of alumni weekend next year. The four classes are naming the auditorium in Houston Hall, the lower-level dining area in Houston, the lecture hall in the basement of Logan Hall and Irvine Auditorium's lobby, respectively. Vice President for Development Virginia Clark said she was pleased with the active participation of entire classes of Penn alumni in the development effort. "To me, that's really great because you get all of the alumni and the classes involved," she said. But donors have yet to open their checkbooks for some or the higher-profile areas of the complex. The renovated concert hall in Irvine, Houston's Hall of Flags and the Admissions Office entrance to College Hall have yet to be funded, at prices of $5 million, $2 million and $1.5 million, respectively. Hanna said that she was hopeful that someone would make a donation to name the concert hall, which is joined in Irvine by Cafe '58 -- donated by the Class of 1958 -- and the Carol Stein Amado Recital Room, named for the late wife of Vice Provost for Research Ralph Amado. "I'd really love to see someone put their name on it because it's going to be spectacular," Hanna said. "It's going to be a real treasure when its finished." "You'd be getting a great deal," Clark added. Hanna, who also heads Penn's financial aid drive, indicated that the Perelman Quadrangle attracts a kind of donor different from one who gives to undergraduate aid -- the University's top fundraising priority, according to several Penn administrators -- for which $55 million has been raised in the last 2 1/4 years. "Some donors feel very strongly that it's important to support students, that that's closer to the academic mission of the University," she said. "There are [also] people who like to put their name on things. Different people get ignited by different things."