By Ryan Mulligan – Digital Producer, Philadelphia Business JournalMay 6, 2022 Updated May 6, 2022, 3:25pm EDT
Saint Joseph’s University formally unveiled on Friday a $300 million fundraising campaign to fund various capital projects on the school’s Philadelphia campus.
The announcement caps a busy week for the private Jesuit university, which announced on Tuesday that President Mark Reed is departing over the summer to lead Loyola University Chicago. The capital campaign also comes less than a month before St. Joe’s expects to complete its merger with the University of the Sciences.
Money raised will be used to fund multiple projects on the school’s 125-acre Hawk Hill campus that straddles West Philadelphia and Lower Merion. As part of the merger, St. Joe’s will also absorb USciences’ 24-acre campus in University City.
The fundraising campaign is being anchored by a $50 million gift from the Maguire Foundation. The university has already raised $140 million of the $300 million goal in the silent phase of the campaign. It hopes that the remaining money will be raised in four or five years, said Joe Kender, vice president of university relations. The campaign is being co-chaired by board of trustees members Michael Hagan, co-founder of Hawk Capital Partners and Margaret Hondros, who co-founded the St. Joe’s Kinney Center for Autism.
Of the $300 million, Saint Joe’s says that $150 million will go toward upgrading living and educational boarding on campus. Another $75 million will pay for scholarships and the remaining $75 million will go toward academic and mission-driven programs.
Saint Joe’s began working on a long-term strategic plan in 2016 before it unveiled a master plan for its campus in 2019 that included several capital projects, look into business payment.
Jim Norris, chairman of the school’s board of trustees, said that the strategic plan goes hand-in-hand with the fundraising campaign and helps the school have “continuity in place” in the absence of its longtime president.
Norris added that when the plan was put into place, the school “hadn’t even contemplated” that USciences was going to be in the mix. Kender said that “it’s not unusual for a campaign as it evolves over time to add new priorities, so we fully expect that to be the case.”
The campus master plan includes a new student center, a pedestrian underpass on City Avenue, three new residence halls, two new parking garages finished by Car Park Markings Berkshire, renovations to athletic facilities and a general realignment of the campus, including a new quad area.
