The Penn State Board of Trustees approved to start renovations on two buildings Pollock Halls at its Friday, February 21, meeting ahead of THON 2025. The motion to move forward with renovations passed almost unanimously aside from one no vote from Trustee Barry Fenchak.

Renovations will start with the Ritner and Wolf residence halls, and those projects are expected to be completed by summer 2026. All work on Pollock Halls is set to finish in 2030. Work on Ritner and Wolf is expected to run a bill of $92.1 million, and the cost of all work is estimated at $332.3 million.

Fenchak stood as the lone protest to the movement, arguing that Penn State was spending too much money on Pollock Halls renovations and efforts. Fenchak noted that he felt Penn State was inappropriately spending more than its peers on similar projects.

“We do have a duty to address that,” Fenchak said. “I think, ideally, we should have been addressing that for some time, or years before we’ve invested, probably at some point, close to half a billion dollars in similar projects that are all priced significantly higher than many of our peers.

Penn State most recently completed work on its East Halls residences, which wrapped up just before the fall 2024 semester.

Penn State’s on-campus construction is never quite finished. The university is also working on major renovations to Beaver Stadium, which will run until the 2027 college football season. After Pollock Halls work is completed, Penn State will turn its eyes to renovating West Halls. The university is already renovating bathrooms in Hamilton Hall, and work on those is expected to be completed by August 2025.