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University
construction: 183 years, and counting
By
Dan Heuchert
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Rebecca
Arrington
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| The
new lower bowl of seating around the south end zone will net
3,147 new seats for the coming football season, while underneath,
new locker room and media facilities are nearing completion. |
Thomas
Jefferson broke ground for the University of Virginia in 1816 and
construction has continued ever since. This summer -- the high season
for construction -- there have been several major projects going
on around Grounds.
Scott
Stadium expansion
The
second phase of Scott Stadium's expansion to 60,000 seats is on
target for its required completion date of Sept. 18, when Wake Forest
comes to town for the first home football game of the season.
"Everybody
in this trailer knows that date," said project manager Richard
Laurance. "The rest of the world is thinking about Y2K, but
we're thinking about Sept. 18."
The
new lower seating bowl in the south end zone, linking the east and
west stands, is almost complete, and the post-game press area and
locker facilities for the home and visiting teams and game officials
should be ready on time. More powerful and more focused lighting
is also in place, as is the basic structure for the plaza at the
north end of the stadium.
The
rest of the $79 million project will not be complete until Sept.
2, 2000, the next red-letter date on Laurance's calendar. A new
parking garage off the south end of the stadium is due by October
2000.
Stadium
project updates
McCormick
Road dorms getting new landscape
The
McCormick Road first-year dormitories are getting a new look. A
new landscape plan features sidewalks installed further from the
dorms and designed with better drainage in mind to prevent freezing
in the winter and puddling in warmer times. In October, red oak
trees will be planted between the sidewalks and dorms, replacing
the former sweet gums, which were unpopular with students because
of their spiky seed pods. Bike racks will be moved as part of an
effort to create a more "porch-like effect" around each
dorm entrance, said Mary Hughes, the University's landscape architect,
who helped develop the plan with input from students, Housing and
the University's Arboretum Committee.
"Otherwise,
the landscape is going to remain pretty open, because the students
value the play space," Hughes said.
Alderman
dorm on schedule
The
walls are up on a new 140-bed Alderman Road residence hall, due
to open in August 2000.
The
$4.4 million facility is being built behind Lyle and Dunnington
houses, sharing an entry road with the most recently completed first-year
dorm, Cauthen House, which opened in 1996.
Peabody
Hall work begins
Before
Miller Hall can be razed to make way for the new Special Collections
library to be built on that site, the Office of Admission will move
to new quarters in Peabody Hall. But before Peabody can be renovated
to house Admission, space had to be readied for several student
organizations that formerly called Peabody home.
While
planning for the Peabody renovation was completed, the former Newcomb
Hall game room was fixed up to accommodate some of the displaced
student groups, including the Inter-Fraternity and Inter-Sorority
councils and Corks and Curls, said project manager Chris Willis.
Lambeth Commons will become the new home of WTJU by late October,
Willis said. The Dean of Students' office on the second floor will
remain open and functional throughout the renovation.
The
$1.3 million Peabody renovation will modify the basement space to
serve as Admissionšs working area. The main floor will become a
public welcoming center for prospective students, as well as office
and meeting space, Willis said. The project should be complete by
June 2000. Work on the Special Collections library is scheduled
to begin soon after.
Parking
garage completed
The
995-space Medical Center parking project opened July 6, said Richard
Sergei, assistant to the project manager.
The
$14.5 million project took 15 months, but provided a net gain of
600 spaces. The precinct will soon lose approximately 250 spaces,
however, when ground is broken for a new biomedical research building
and a chiller plant.
Student
Health expansion
Workers
this summer completed a $2.2 million, two-year expansion and renovation
of the Elson Student
Health Center, said Don Riggin, senior project manager.
A
new two-story wing was occupied in May, providing an additional
14,000 square feet of space for Counseling and Psychological Services,
the Learning Needs and Evaluations Center and Health Promotion.
Renovations of existing space, to be finished by the end of the
month, will improve space for general medicine, gynecology, pharmacy
and administrative offices, Riggin said.
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