Kevin Roberts, vice president of operations, shared a report of the progress of multiple university construction projects on campus at Wednesday’s Students’ Association meeting.
Thirty-five of the 45 members were present at the session.
The bottom floor of the Campus Center and Bennett Gymnasium are nearing completion and with that, a few departments will begin to shuffle around.
The elevator will be put in the bottom floor of the Campus Center early next week and the downstairs space is on track to be done by the beginning of December. Once complete, Student Life and Students’ Association will move into their new spaces downstairs, Roberts said. The Department of Psychology will then move from Chambers to the bottom floor of Mckenzie leaving Chambers vacant.
Roberts said the Board of Trustees has approved construction to move forward on the Halbert-Walling lab facility which will occupy the space where Chambers currently sits.
After Christmas break, Walling Lecture Hall will be torn down and work will immediately begin on the exterior of Foster Science Building.
Chambers is scheduled to be demolished in February. Once the new lab facility is complete, labs will be moved into the space and renovations will begin in the interior of Foster.
Bennett Gymnasium was originally scheduled to be complete by the start of the fall semester, but due to some run-ins with the original structure of Bennett and delays at the steel company, the project fell behind schedule. The concrete for the second floor was set to be poured this week, but again was delayed because of the cold weather.
Despite delays, Bennett is on track to be complete by the start of the spring semester.
Work still continues on the track and soccer complex. The purple track has been installed and turf has been laid on the field. Construction on the field house and stands will begin in January or February, and the facility should be complete in time for the first home track meet in April.
As for the funding of the Vision in Action campaign, the Halbert-Walling lab facility is fully paid for. Roberts said the final number is in flux because the university is still choosing materials and making decisions that could influence construction cost.
“We are still trying to figure out exactly the specifics of things,” Roberts said. “We’ve got plenty of money to do it. I could swing a couple million in either direction and we’d be totally fine. That is the heart of the discussions we are having right now.”
