Annex closing marks another milestone for South Campus revitalization

Friday marked another milestone in UB’s commitment to its South Campus revitalization plan as Diefendorf Hall Annex closed for good.

The 26,662-square-foot building opened in 1966 to provide additional academic space when the university experienced exponential growth upon joining the SUNY system, explains Kelly Hayes McAlonie, UB’s director of campus planning.

In recent years, the annex has been used as academic space for the Graduate School of Education’s Office of University Preparatory Programs (OUPP), and the School of Public Health and Health Professions’ departments of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences and Rehabilitation Sciences. OUPP will temporarily move to Hayes Annex A nearby, and eventually to Kimball Tower, also on the South Campus, as part of the South Campus revitalization project. Exercise and Nutrition Sciences and Rehabilitation Sciences moved this summer to space in Kimball.

Now that the annex building is closed, it has been locked to the public and the utilities are being disconnected. As such, pedestrians will no longer be able to use the annex as a pass-through. The annex will be demolished as soon as funds are available.

The closing of the annex building marks a particularly important moment as UB continues to improve and enhance the Main Street campus as part of its strategic plan.

“A significant goal of the South Campus revitalization project is to enhance the campus experience for our students, faculty, staff and neighbors,” says Hayes McAlonie. “Part of that goal was to improve our buildings and, likewise, remove those structures which do not positively impact the campus experience. Closing Diefendorf Annex is the first step toward accomplishing this second point.”

The large-scale effort to revitalize South Campus has been underway for several years. In May, UB’s offices of Community Relations and Facilities organized a public forum to update the community on what’s happened thus far — most notably, the relocation of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences to its new home in downtown Buffalo — and what’s to come.

Future projects, pending the availability of funding, include relocating the Graduate School of Education and the School of Social Work from the North Campus to the South, as well as bringing health sciences programs that have been dispersed around the South Campus into spaces formerly occupied by the Jacobs School.

UB’s long-term planning strategy calls for redesigning Diefendorf Loop as a new and inviting entrance to the South Campus from Bailey Avenue.

With the closing of Diefendorf Annex, folks may also be wondering about the three Hayes Hall Annex buildings — A, B and C. Those will be used as surge space for the upcoming renovation of Crosby Hall, which houses studio and office space for the School of Architecture and Planning.

When Crosby is renovated, the Hayes annexes will be closed and prepared for demolition, again as funds allow, Hayes McAlonie says.