Chaminade Julienne Master Plan Update

What Chaminade Julienne is losing in bricks and mortar, the educational institution is making up for in potential and possibilities.

Marianist Hall – which opened its doors in 1957 as a residence facility for Marianist brothers and priests who served as CJ faculty, staff and administrators for more than half a century – will soon be cleared away with demolition already underway.

Most recently, the building housed a variety of school offices including admissions, business, communications, data services and development and alumni, which have been moved to the new Founders Center at 300 S. Perry Street, a building acquired by the school last year. The CJ chapel, admissions office and conference space were relocated to the main school building.

“While we were able to utilize the building after the brothers moved out, it had outlived its original purpose and it would have been exceedingly expensive to renovate,” said Dan Meixner ‘84, CJ president.

Eliminating the building, which is in a centralized campus location, will enable the school to add additional green space and allow Emmanuel Church – the first Catholic Church established in Dayton in 1837 – to be a focal point, better highlighting the school's Catholic identity as a part of the look of campus.

“The way campus has evolved, it essentially wraps around the oldest church in Dayton,” Meixner said. “We had a building that wasn’t usable, blocking an important part of our identity.”

Click Here: Watch Emmanuel Church emerge from the wreckage at Marianist Hall

Demolition is expected to be complete by early February with site clean-up complete by early July. Razing Marianist Hall is just one element of Chaminade Julienne’s master plan that was created in 2019 with a look to the future – 15 to 20 years.

“The acquisition of 300 Perry Street helped us activate this part of the plan sooner than we otherwise would have been able to,” Meixner said. “We have greater flexibility because of the space.”

Founders Center includes office space, classroom and student services, an event space and a school archive – a permanent display of everything from letter sweaters to vintage banners. It is just one more element in the ever-expanding CJ campus that has almost doubled in size in the past two decades to nearly 18 acres.

“I tell people we used to have a school building with some parking lots and today we have a campus that more fully serves the needs of the community,” Meixner said. 

Click Here: Dayton Daily News article 

New and improved learning spaces, athletic facilities, event and meeting spaces, along with state-of-the-art academic spaces, enable students to recognize and reach their goals. The school has experienced enrollment growth since 2011, with an enrollment of just over 700 this year.

“We want to create spaces and opportunities for our students on campus to do what they love. Being able to eliminate additional commuting to other places allows them to get home sooner and have dinner with their family,” Meixner said.