Appalachian State University administrators made a final decision this summer to shut down the Broyhill Events Center on campus after determining it would be too costly to renovate or maintain the building at this time, officials confirmed.

“At the end of the day, it was a cost-benefit analysis,” said Dino DiBernardi, associate vice chancellor for student development at ASU.

Formerly the Broyhill Inn and Appalachian Conference Center, the building located atop Bodenheimer Drive was built in 1973 and financed primarily by private donations. It has 20 function rooms and 83 guest rooms.

A year ago, ASU announced plans to close the center and study the option of converting its hotel rooms to dorm rooms. Later, the university decided to continue using the facility for campus events, but community uses — such as weddings, conferences and meetings — were discontinued after the fall 2011 semester.

A report from an architectural and engineering firm found that converting the Broyhill’s hotel rooms to dorm rooms and bringing the entire building up to code would cost approximately $14 million.

“When we determined that the financial return on that was not going to pay off, we determined not to use it for that,” DiBernardi said.

In the spring, Chancellor Ken Peacock formed a committee to study the best use for the building. Its report, released in May, concluded that the costs of maintaining the facility were unjustified given the university’s other construction priorities, DiBernardi said.

The center will continue to host campus events through December. In January, an addition to the Plemmons Student Union is expected to open, with a number of programming and meeting spaces that will supplant the event spaces formerly used at the Broyhill.

“We feel like we can handle the events in the student union,” he said.

The manager, mechanic and custodian positions at the Broyhill are temporary positions that will not continue after the center closes, DiBernardi said. Other staff at the building are employed by the Office of Student Development and will be reassigned across campus.

ASU is working to find a new home for its new fermentation science program, which is currently housed on the bottom floor of the Broyhill. Once that happens, the university will shut off utility service to portions of the building.

Future uses of the building or property remain uncertain.

“That’s the unanswered question … what’s the best use of that building or site?” said DiBernardi. ASU must decide whether to renovate the building or raze the building and repurpose the site.

The student union, even when expanded, cannot host community events because it is funded by student fees and designed for campus use only, he said. The loss of the Broyhill has created a vacuum in available facilities for large events, which DiBernardi acknowledged.

“I have no doubt that the community has had to struggle,” he said, but “community events will continue to find another option.”