Correspondent photo / Eric Hudson Members of the Youngstown State University Marching Pride, a cheerleader and mascot Penny the Penguin were among those who attended Tuesday’s capital campaign kickoff for Kilcawley Center, the student center on the YSU campus.

YOUNGSTOWN — An effort to transform, renovate and reinvent a major piece of Youngstown State University’s central life and hubbub of student activity has received a series of recent financial boosts.

“This building is in great need of attention,” Paul McFadden, YSU Foundation’s president, said.

McFadden was referring to Kilcawley Center, which was the focus and centerpiece of a news conference Tuesday morning in the building’s Chestnut Room to launch the Kilcawley: Centered on the Future capital campaign.

To that end, Scott Schulick, a former YSU trustee, donated $100,000 to the effort and has been named campaign chairman. In addition, the foundation received last week two separate gifts — one each for $200,000 and $250,000 — with more than $5 million pledged so far, McFadden said.

Also, YSU President Bill Johnson and his wife, LeeAnn Johnson, made a $100,000 contribution in January.

“It is a catalyst for student life as we know it today,” said Schulick, who was hired in 1991 as a peer assistant in the building’s student center and became student government president two years later.

Since it opened in 1965, Kilcawley Center has served as a hub for numerous aspects of student life, as well as the central location for many businesses and events. Nevertheless, the space needs to be modernized and has undergone few renovations in its 59-year existence, Schulick told an audience of a few hundred.

“Kilcawley almost is eligible for Social Security and Medicare,” he said to laughter.

Specifically, enhancements will include a Black Box Theater for performances, a larger Chestnut Room and a centralized dining space. Also, the design promises to integrate indoor and outdoor spaces, with an emphasis on providing a more welcoming and accessible environment for students, according to the university.

Final blueprints for the renovations, which include a new stairway, work to revamp several entrances, both floors, a food court and an information center, should be drawn up in the next few weeks, Joy Polkabla Byers, associate vice president of student experiences, noted. In addition, the project’s cost has yet to be finalized, she added.

Strollo Architects Inc. is collaborating with Pittsburgh-based AE Works on the project’s design aspects.

The targeted completion date is fall 2027, though some sections, such as the food court, should be open before that, Polkabla Byers said.

“We are embarking on an exciting journey to modernize our campus and enhance the student experience for the over 12,000 students that call YSU home. The renovated Kilcawley Center will not only provide a dynamic space for academic and social activities, but it will also create an environment where students can thrive as they engage with one another and with the business community throughout our region,” Johnson said in a statement.

In May, the renovation project’s initial phase should get underway, with an emphasis on ensuring no interruptions to campus life occur, along with assurances “no one is displaced,” Johnson said.

The overarching vision behind the renovation work is to “create a vibrant space that embodies YSU’s values of student centrality, integration and collaboration, and a hub for future generations,” its mission statement says.

In 1960, William H. Kilcawley and his wife, Mattie, made a $300,000 donation toward constructing the building, which began in 1964 before its opening the following year. In 1971 and 1979, Kilcawley Center underwent expansions that more than doubled its size, though the facility has seen no additional upgrades or renovations since.

The center hosts about 5,500 events and meetings annually. It also employs more than 80 students in various departments.