Campus's construction boom biggest since 1960s

by Sarah R. Buchholz, Chronicle staff

The addition to the Isenberg School of Management is one of 29 major projects underway on campus this summer. Completion of the new wing is scheduled for August. (Stan Sherer photo)

ummer always sees a construction boom on campus. But in what Facilities Planning director James Cahill called "the most construction activity in one single period" on campus since the 1960s, the University is hammering away on 29 renovation or new-construction projects this season and is in the planning stages of a number of others.
Cahill said that despite every effort to minimize the impact of construction and renovation on the campus community and public, some service interruptions are inevitable.

    "We'll do all we can to make certain people are inconvenienced as little as possible," he said.

    Some campus travel routes will be temporarily blocked during construction, and staff and students may need to find alternative ways to get from one place to the other. Air conditioning might be interrupted in a few cases, and parts of the Campus Center Garage will be temporarily closed.

    Signs at major construction sites will offer information about individual projects, Cahill said.

    The efforts scheduled to be completed by the end of 2002 are costing roughly $37.5 million. Four of the projects underway, representing an additional $32.6 million, are scheduled to be finished in 2003. Additionally, some large projects, such as the integrated science building, the new central heating plant, and the reconstruction of the deck around the W.E.B. Du Bois Library, are being designed.

    "They won't be going into construction for a couple of years," Cahill said of the science building and heating plant, "but they're in the design phase now."

    Plans for a new School of Nursing building, a recreation building, and an executive conference center, among others, are still in the study phase, Cahill said.
"We have a lot of stuff going on," he said.

    The work is meeting a range of needs, from Americans with Disabilities Act compliance to creating and updating instructional space to improving safety.

    The bulk of the bill is being footed through bonds, which are used to raise money for larger capital projects. Other funds include private donations - for the new soccer field, most of the Harold Alfond Management Center at the Isenberg School of Management, and some of the modernization of Bezanson Recital Hall - and revenue trust funds being used to spruce up the residence halls and to develop construction documents for structural repairs to the Campus Center Parking Garage.

    In addition, campus general operating funds are covering the cost of many upgrades and repairs, including roof repairs to the Lederle Graduate Research Center, repairs to the deck and roof of Tobin Hall, renovations of four labs in Goessmann, steamline repairs and upgrades near Morrill Science Center and the ISOM, and structural repairs at McGuirk Alumni Stadium. The campus is also installing new sprinklers in Tobin, Lederle and Herter Hall, soliciting bids to upgrade the theatrical lighting at the Mullins Center, and installing two campus map cases.

    Cahill noted the irony of a construction boom during tough fiscal times, saying that because large projects are in the planning and design phase for several years, sometimes money appropriated in strong economic times doesn't get spent until the economy has taken a down turn. The funding for some of the projects this summer was appropriated in 1995, he said.

    Five of the projects are student housing renovations: Dickinson House is receiving new lounge carpeting and having some interior walls replaced and balcony railings repaired; James is getting a new roof; John Adams is having its elevator modernized; John Quincy Adams is getting new flooring on 15 stories; and Van Meter is getting a new fire alarm system and exit lighting and signage.

    Academic spaces make up 13 of the projects. Two rooms in Morrill IV South are being altered to house a new electron probe; the building is having a laboratory for isotope research built, and an electrical upgrade is being designed.

    In addition to the projects at Morrill, Tobin, Bezanson, Goessmann and Lederle, academic renovation and construction include a new passenger elevator and safety equipment in Arnold House, a departmental lounge in the Computer Science Building, and the construction of the new Engineering building.

    Other projects underway are renovations to the Physical Plant building and safety and accessibility upgrades to the Cranberry Station in Wareham.

    "We're definitely making some progress in tackling the campus's deferred maintenance, in renovating facilities to comply with building codes, and in making the campus accessible" Cahill said. "At the same time, we're continually looking ahead to the University's future facilities needs."