Construction Continues into Upcoming Year

By June 7, 2012

By Kayli Farris

Students will likely look at campus from a different perspective than years past as construction continues, officials said.

“Everything we’re doing, if we’re not doing it to improve on our ability to carry out the academic mission, and I include athletics as part of the academic experience, then we shouldn’t be doing it,” said Mike Johnson, associate vice chancellor of Facilities Management.

The Campus Walk renovation, which extends from the Pi Beta Phi Centennial Gate on Maple Street to Dickson Street, will include new lights, trees and grass, and is scheduled to be completed by the end of June, Johnson said.

The Hillside Auditorium will include two lecture halls and will seat 750 total. Itv will be the first building on campus with a completely green roof with vegetation and gardens growing on top of the building, Johnson said.

Large lecture classes will temporarily be relocated to the Union Ballroom and Giffels Auditorium until the completion of the Hillside Auditorium, which should be finished by mid-to-late September, Johnson added.

The Jean Tyson Child Development Center will merge the infant and child development departments into one building, with a capacity of 144. This teaching facility is scheduled to be completed around Aug. 1, Johnson said.

Renovations on Pomfret, Yocum, Futrall, Reid and Humphreys halls, will take place over the summer and conclude in time for move-in, he said.

“A lot of it may not be out there for people to see, but it’s accessibility, it’s safety, it’s trying to make the academic experience a little more pleasant, keep people alert, keep people awake, keep people comfortable,” Johnson said.

The football practice field, south of the indoor football facility, will be complete in August. Below the artificial field, there will be approximately 220 parking spaces that will help with usage of the UREC center, tailgating and scholarship parking, Johnson said.

The facilities management department plans to have the class of 2010 and 2011 names on senior walk and completed by early June, Johnson said.

Senior walks for classes of 2012, 2013 and 2014 will start on Dickson Street and extend on the east side of McIlroy Avenue all the way down and around on Fairview.

This summer, workers will start construction on a new dorm across from Kimpel Hall. The dorm will consist of housing support, additional dining capacity for Brough, 214 beds and retail shopping on the bottom floor, Johnson said. They hope to have the dorm ready by August 2013, Johnson added.

“It’ll get a little better next year, but we’ll be doing other things, so there’s still a lot of activity as we grow,” Johnson said.

In the next year, construction will continue on Vol Walker Hall, Ozark Hall, Football Center, additional athletics projects and renovations, Johnson said.

  • Tommy

    214 beds? What a waste! Why can’t they wait til they can build– say- 500, 600, 700 beds in that space?

  • Tyler

    What an edifice complex. I walk down hallways and see empty classrooms all the time. Instead of lowering our tuition or providing more direct services to students, the university is squandering our money on unnecessary buildings so that they can showcase their status to other state universities.

  • BR

    The Hillside Auditorium was first supposed to be done in August, now September, now October. I would have no problem with the UA’s construction binge if they actually made promises they could keep. Instead they mislead us and say “here is a list of what will be done when you come back in fall”. Guess what: none of those projects are done. We deserve a lot more consideration than we are currently getting. We should have our names on Senior Walk in a much better spot than by Kimpel as compensation for dealing with this poorly run construction nightmare.

  • Chris

     How is having your name by Kimpel a bad place for the Senior Walk?  And construction delays happen more times than not (an 8 month proposed project will usually end up being a 12 month project) so have some patience because the delays are more than likely out of the UofA’s control.

  • BR

     Delays are only out of control if you let them happen. Keeping contractors on a tight leash finishes projects on time. Letting contractors get lazy makes for delays. The U of A shouldn’t've hired these guys if they knew they couldn’t finish by fall. Also, I’m pretty sure there isn’t an uglier, less tradition-rich building on campus than Kimpel. That thing should be demolished today.

  • BR

     By the way, I’m a civil engineering major so I am very pro-construction. But when I see poorly managed construction, I will call it out. The summer has been extremely dry, no rain delays. They should be months ahead of schedule. Instead they are behind.

  • rick

    I agree with the complaints about the construction being behind schedule.  This has been a very dry year.  There have been very few rain days the past six months.  There’s no excuse for all of these projects to be still dragging on.  Someone in the university needs to re-evaluate their construction management duties.  With so much construction happening, its important that someone oversees it and make sure it happens as efficiently as possible.