WENDY STIVER/THE EXPRESS LHU’s Price Auditorium, built in 1938, is set for a $2.5-3 million renovation next summer. The acoustics will be improved, seats reupholstered, new house lighting installed and more.

LOCK HAVEN — Price Auditorium at Lock Haven University was built in 1938 and is still heavily used.

It is one of the first places that prospective students and their families see when they visit campus, according to Dr. Michael Fiorentino Jr., university president.

If things go as planned, it will undergo between $2.5 million and $3 million worth of renovations next summer.

The Lock Haven University Council of Trustees heard details of the project at their last meeting.

The 17,000 square foot building is still largely original, William T. Hanelly, vice president for finance and administration, told the trustees.

The acoustics will be improved with additional “acoustical clouds” and new acoustical wall panels.

The seating will be reupholstered, new house lighting will be installed, accent lighting will be updated, and some stage flooring will be replaced, Hanelly said. In addition, a handicap-accessible row of seating will be added in the back of the auditorium.

The lobby will receive new finishes, and the restrooms will be renovated.

In addition, the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning will be improved by replacing key pieces of the systems.

Outside the auditorium, the Glen Road will be widened and the walkway along Price will be replaced. The walk currently involves step-downs and step-ups. The new one will be all on one level, allowing wheelchair users to access the performance center from the rear parking lot and attracting others to walk along it. This work plus the planned new lighting should result in greater safety, Hanelly said.

The Price renovations and Glen Road improvements will complete the University Commons, he said.

Fiorentino called it a significant project that will attract students and groups to use Price even more for meetings and performances.

Design is underway for other building projects planned for next spring and summer, including new roofs on Zimmerli Gymnasium and McEntire Residence Hall and upgrading the finishes for the Starbucks section of the Bentley Hall cafeteria building (as required in the franchise agreement).

Next summer, Stevenson Library’s front doors will be replaced and the building will have a new chiller unit installed on its roof.