St. Joe's fundraising about to pay off with far larger campus

Saint Joseph's University is about to get a whole lot bigger.

Officials at the already sprawling Catholic university on City Avenue have spent the last week celebrating the public phase of the school's $150 million comprehensive capital campaign.

The multi-million dollar effort will expand and rehab six university properties, including the recently acquired Episcopal Academy campus.

"Our values and our momentum have motivated us to articulate a vision to be recognized as the preeminent Catholic comprehensive university in the Northeast," said University President Timothy R. Lannon in a statement announcing the plan. "With this purchase, the issues associated with an infrastructure stretched to the limit following a more than two-fold increase in the student body are swept away."

Indeed, the Episcopal campus will increase by more than 58 percent St. Joe's overall footprint, and the extra space will allow for an additional 50 classrooms, 200 offices and many more laboratories, as well as an additional 15 acres of playing fields.

The Episcopal campus overhaul, once complete, will be renamed the James J. Maguire '58 Campus, after the alumnus and retired CEO of Philadelphia Insurance Companies, who donated a $10 million lead grant to the campaign.

Brian Duperreault, chairman of ACE Limited, also contributed a $10 million lead grant to the campaign, which will end in 2011.

In addition to the old Episcopal Academy campus, Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse also is in store for a major, multi-phase renovation.

Phase one includes the construction of a 20,000 square-foot addition to the fieldhouse; phase two includes renovation of the sports arena; and phase three will include a complete overhaul of the interior of the fieldhouse.

Once renovations are complete, the fieldhouse will be renamed for Michael J. Hagan, chairman and CEO of Horsham-based NutriSystem, Inc. Hagan and his wife contributed $10 million as lead benefactors.

While just $90 million of the $150 million has been raised so far, Lannon said that students won't be hit with outrageous tuition hikes to finance these acquisitions and renovations. *