In 1995, the Board of Trustees renamed the college in honor of Mr. Carol Martin "Bill" Gatton, '54, in recognition of his $14 million pledge.
The university recognized that the prior plan could not be achieved given 21st-century public financing realities, and turned to private philanthropy for the project.
To that end, the university took a fresh look at the existing facility and reviewed the feasibility and cost of a dramatic renovation and expansion to house modern classrooms, an auditorium, and student assembly spaces.
[6] On March 1, 2013, the University of Kentucky's Gatton College of Business and Economics celebrated the milestone of surpassing the halfway point in its fundraising efforts for the expansion and renovation of its facilities.
The project was part of UK's overall capital improvement plan (House Bill 7) approved by the Kentucky General Assembly and signed into law by Gov.
The original timetable called for completion of the project by the fall of 2015 or early in 2016,[7] but the facility did not open until August 2016, with an official reopening ceremony that October.