“You always need more women’s restrooms,” Wharton Center executive director Mike Brand said, laughing. “Nothing’s ever good enough, so you have to add those. That’s a given. When the really big shows are here, just to accommodate all the big crews, we have to rent satellite toilets for the driveway.”

The restrooms are only a small portion of the renovations MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon called “really important” for the facility that Brand said has been “totally outgrown” with use.

“There’s been a changing need in 25 years,” Brand said. “Shows have gotten a lot bigger than they were.”

The renovations, which will cover 24,000 square feet, will consist of a combination of glass and brick to create a four-story structure integrated into the front of the current facility.

Construction will include an expanded lobby, box office, gift shop, women’s bathroom facility, offices and backstage space. Nine thousand square feet will be dedicated to renovation and the rest will be for new construction.

“We’ve totally outgrown the space for offices,” Brand said. “The education programs are getting to the point where we can’t do them anymore.”

Simon said the project has been approved by the MSU Board of Trustees to go into the planning phase, and $3 million of the necessary $5 million in raised funds has been acquired.

Brand said much of the construction was necessary to accommodate the simultaneous need for facilities for student, faculty and traveling shows.

“When we have a big Broadway show like ‘The Lion King’ or ‘Wicked,’ the entire facility is taken over, not just the theater space,” Brand said.

The renovation notification came Sunday at a 25th anniversary celebration for the center.

Clifton Wharton, former MSU president and benefactor for the Wharton Center, said he looked over his notes from his speech 25 years ago and his sentiments remain the same.

“Twenty five years ago, I said, ‘It is people who lift the university to heights of greatness,’” he said. “We had the supreme confidence that we could rely on that marvelous Spartan spirit. My statement is just as true today as it was 25 years ago.”