About

This project includes both an addition to and a partial renovation of Kenneth E. Peacock Hall, home to the students, faculty and staff of App State’s Walker College of Business (WCOB). The project is expected to extend the life of the building by 30–50 years.

Built in 1990, the 130,000-square-foot, four-story Peacock Hall is due for a systematic renovation to replace elevators, HVAC/controls and chillers, as well as the tiered, lecture-style classrooms that make up 80% of Peacock Hall’s classrooms. The classrooms’ fixed seating — ideal in the 90’s, when students passively listened to lectures — now hinders daily reconfigurations of classroom furniture that allow students to form smaller, more agile project teams.

Proposed facilities under discussion for the building’s new addition include:

• Classrooms.
• Common areas.
• A learning lab.
• Special use areas for campus events.
• Mechanical infrastructure space.
• Student service offices.

The vision for the learning lab space includes features such as a real-time stock market ticker and Bloomberg terminals that offer financial analysis software — providing students with cutting-edge academic experiences.

A planned bridge between the existing building and the addition will connect the first and second floors. The scope of renovations for Peacock Hall will be determined following the completion of the building’s addition, which will be constructed in phases.

This project will support planning for the greater district goal of opening Boone Creek and replacing surface parking with a new parking structure, along with a redesign of traffic flow for buses.

Walker College is accredited by AACSB International — the premier global accrediting body for schools of business — and offers 10 undergraduate majors and three master’s degree programs, including its nationally and internationally recognized Master of Business Administration (MBA) program.

Peacock Hall also houses several units that support students campuswide and in which faculty and staff engage in multidisciplinary research that benefits both campus and the local community. These include the Transportation Insight Center for Entrepreneurship, Center for Economic Research and Policy Analysis and Brantley Risk and Insurance Center.

The building is named in honor of App State’s seventh leader, Kenneth E. Peacock, who was a professor in the college before serving as chancellor of the university from 2004–14.

Status

Design work for the Peacock Hall addition was completed in fall 2023, and preparation work for the project took place in July 2024, with the installation of site fencing. Demolition of the facility’s patio area began the week of Aug. 5, 2024, and this work is nearly finished. Work has begun to reroute the site’s existing AT&T emergency lines, so that the building never loses coverage or service during construction. Upcoming work includes installing interior partition walls in the existing portion of Peacock Hall, which is slated to take place in October 2024.

Plans are in place to shift Peacock Hall’s main entrance to the building entrance available from Howard Street, during this first phase of construction. This move is slated to take place in November. Peacock Hall’s addition is anticipated to open for the fall 2026 semester.

The first phase of fencing installation for the project took place over the week of July 15, 2024, and this fenced area includes a portion of the Peacock Parking Lot. During the addition’s construction, parking will be unavailable in the first eight rows located to the right of Peacock Lot’s entrance off of Rivers Street (the side of the lot that’s closest to Peacock Hall). New River Hall Lot has been reserved for faculty/staff permit holders.

The second phase of fencing installation — which impacts the Peacock Traffic Circle and some of the walkways available from the circle — was completed the week of July 29, 2024. A new turnaround area for AppalCART buses and other traffic has been created in the Duncan/Rankin Parking Lot. The walkway located between the Edwin Duncan Hall Octagon and the former Peacock Traffic Circle, which provides access to the wide-walk that extends throughout the east side of the Boone campus, will remain open throughout the addition’s construction.

In preparation of the patio demolition, the large, stainless steel sculpture located near Peacock Hall’s front entrance was relocated to a new sculpture pad in front of App State’s Broyhill Music Center. Additionally, the solar-powered picnic tables that were located on the patio area have been redistributed to locations across the Boone campus.

App State selected McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, as the designer for the project, and Vannoy Construction, located in Jefferson, North Carolina, is the project’s construction manager.

A conceptual design study for the building’s addition was completed by architecture firm LS3P Associates in November 2019 and was reviewed by university leadership.

How is it funded?

App State received $25 million in legislative funding support for the Peacock Hall project as part of the FY 2021–22 biennial budget bill, signed into law by Gov. Roy Cooper on Nov. 18, 2021. The bill also includes $200,000 for upgrades to Peacock Hall’s existing elevators. As part of the FY 2023–24 biennial budget bill, the state allocated an additional $15 million in support of the Peacock Hall project.

The university’s Building Leaders fundraising initiative will supplement the state-allocated funds, with $5 million of the initiative’s $15 million goal dedicated toward the construction of the Peacock Hall addition. Building Leaders funds will also support faculty professorships, student scholarships and Dean’s Club-funded opportunities, such as professional development, study abroad programs, research and guest lectures from industry leaders, in Walker College. As of July 2024, App State has raised $13 million through the Building Leaders initiative.

A learning lab, to be constructed as part of the Peacock Hall addition, will be funded in part by a $1.3 million gift that App State alumnus Dennis Covington ’92 and his wife, Katherine Covington, made to App State in support of academic resources for Walker College and facilities for App State Athletics.

Who will benefit?

The college’s faculty, staff and approximately 4,000 students will benefit from the additional classroom, lab and office space provided through the Peacock Hall addition/renovation project.

Also, this project will help the Walker College of Business attract additional recruiters and high-profile business leaders who speak and engage with students at Walker College events, such as the Boyles Distinguished Lecture Series, the Global Opportunities and Business for Good Conference, and the Walker Business Connections Career Fair.

How does it support UNC System Goals and Metrics?

Providing the best environment for teaching and learning can impact recruitment and retention of students, faculty and staff.