With construction projects around residence halls all around campus coming to a close and move-in weekend fast approaching, heat in the upper 90s isn’t the only thing making University Housing officials sweat this summer.
But despite the scope of the projects, housing officials said the construction work will have minimal affect on incoming residents.
According to Carl McGill, special events coordinator for transportation, the repaving and construction on Cates Avenue is the biggest concern this year as far as construction, especially since the street serves as the main throughfare for students moving in to residence halls on Central Campus.
McGill said he’s worked for three months to plan move-in weekend and although he said he watched the progress on Cates carefully, he’s not very worried about the completion date.
That’s because, according to Barry Olson, a residence life coordinator for University Housing facilities, crews will be paving the last segment of Cates beginning Friday.
“Right now it’s kind of a war zone,” Olson said. “We will have the road in full form by next week.”
Instead, McGill said he’s more worried about the loss of the built-in turnaround once located where the construction on the First Year College building now stands.
To combat the loss of the space, McGill said he will be dividing the Student Health lot into two seperate spaces: one for loading and one for long-term parking.
Construction crews will also halt work on the FYC building over move-in weekend, as much for a safety issue as a transportation one.
“You don’t want cranes and mud splashing all over parents during move-in,” McGill said. “You want things as calm and easy as possible.”
Even construction in more remote areas, like the expansion of Jordan Hall, will affect some residence halls.
Wood Hall residents, who used to use Jordan’s parking lot for long-term parking during move-in, will mostly need to move their vehicles to the Coliseum deck and West lot because of the renovations.
But the on-campus construction hasn’t only affected parking.
University Housing is putting the finishing touches on their $25 million “multi-dorm project” that aims to, among other things, make all residence halls on campus air conditioned, according to Olson.
On Central Campus, although Tucker and Owen received some minor alterations, construction crews have done extensive work on Turlington and Alexander, adding not only air conditioning, but upgraded fire supression systems and new paint.
But despite the fact that they were both started shortly after the close of the fall semester, Turlington is not scheduled to reopen until Oct. 1 and Alexander’s final inspection is Monday, Olson said.
Olson pointed out that this was an early decision to dedicate resources appropriately.
“If you look on the grand scope of things, it’s difficult on that accelerated a schedule,” he said. “That’s the nature of having just enough manpower.”
Olson said the situation with Building B of Wood, which will also open Oct. 1, is similar.
But having both buildings offline means University Housing will be out a combined 345 beds.
However, even with the largest incoming class in university history — 4,254 are expected to enroll — University Housing Director Susan Grant said the empty buildings aren’t causing too much of a problem.
“We’re not ready yet of course, but things look good,” she said.
