Tiger Inn has raised about a third of the $4.5 million it needs to undergo a planned 9,000 square-foot expansion to make the club's kitchen and social spaces bigger. The club's graduate board intends to start construction in 2009.
The capital campaign, which began in October 2004, aims to collect funds to enlarge a building that has gone without significant structural modification since its construction in 1895, campaign chairperson and TI graduate board member Rich Thompson '55 said.
"We've got a space ... that was designed for 50 to 70 people," Thompson said of the 16,000 sq. ft. club. Tiger Inn's average membership has almost tripled since the building's construction, and the planned expansion seeks to create a facility that will accommodate that growth, Thompson said.
TI's dining room, basement social spaces, library and storage areas will double in size, Joe Tonetti '59 said in an email. Tonetti is a member of the club's steering committee, and his architectural firm, Tonetti Associates Architects, is drawing up the plans for the project pro bono.
The club's kitchen will be upgraded, the restrooms redone and telecommunication and media rooms will be added, Tonetti said. The building will also become handicap-accessible.
"We are very confident that the expansion will meet the needs of a club that [has grown to serve] 140 people," Thompson said.
After a renovation of TI's existing facilities in 2002, Thompson explained, the club's graduate board decided to look into enlarging the building.
As the project picked up steam, TI's board "went through our list of alumni and tried to identify people we thought would be willing to help and ... participate in different ways," Thompson said.
Two different groups of TI alumni, a steering committee and a development committee, are working in tandem to oversee the expansion. The development committee consists of at least one person from every class since 1944 and coordinates the fundraising efforts, while the steering committee is much smaller and makes most of the major decisions regarding the expansion, Thompson said.
Overall fundraising coordination is delegated to a professional adviser and past TI presidents, who are expected to spearhead fundraising for their particular classes, Tonetti said.
Alumni have contributed "about $950,000 in cash or gifts that resides in the Prospect Foundation bank account and then ... another $650,000 in signed pledges," Thompson said. He also explained that $4.5 million was the current fundraising target but that the actual cost of the project would likely rise to around $5 million due to cost increases over time.
TI must also resolve a conflict with Princeton Borough over affordable housing fees before it can begin construction. The club is reluctant to pay in full given the questionable legal status of the statewide policy requiring the payment.
"We feel like we are not going to have to spend what we initially thought," Thompson said about the affordable housing fee.
Despite the potential legal hurdles and the need to raise the remainder of the required funds, Tiger Inn board officials are optimistic that the expansion will go forward as planned.
"It depends on achieving our financial goals," Thompson said, "[but] we are hopeful of starting groundbreaking sometime in 2009."
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