Facilities will begin construction projects including moving offices in and from Metzger, redoing the track and field and fixing parking structure leaks. The mini-construction projects will begin over the summer.

Relocation

Due to the addition of a welcome center to Metzger Hall, which will continue construction throughout 2016-2017 school year, several of the projects involve moving offices. One of the offices moving includes financial aid, which will relocate to the east wing of Metzger Hall.  

“Where we’re at right now is we have just completed Emerson, which is one of the first dominoes…The next step is to refurbish and remodel the modulars by the cafeteria and so hopefully we’ll be getting to that this summer,” said Ken Campbell, manager of planning, design and construction.

One of the transitions from Metzger Hall involves The Center for Marriage and Relationships moving to the education modulars to the south of the Caf for a more central location.

“The initial idea was we needed a space with private offices and where students could drop in for office hours,” said Chris Grace, director of CMR and professor of psychology.

The planning for the welcome center started about a year and a half ago with director of facilities management operations Brian Phillips, vice president of enrollment management Greg Vaughan, Campbell and other team members looking at several universities welcome centers. In the search for the welcome center’s location, the team looked at different spots on campus, including Emerson, the library, the Crowell School of Business and student services.

“We basically settled on Metzger would be the best location because it’s right at the front door and as you come in the entrance you would see signs to the welcome center,” Campbell said. “When you’re a visitor that’s what you want to do, … you know want to know exactly where the welcome center is to know where to go from there.”

Replacement

Beyond Metzger Hall, the plan also includes replacing the track and field on top of parking structure R. The replacement primarily stems out of the need for a new turf system on the field to replace the worn out grass fibers originally installed in 2004.

“We have a track and field that have reached the end of their useful life and need to be replaced,” Phillips said.

Despite the plan to update the field, freshman nursing major Emily Rice feels the track deserves further improvements.

“I don’t go to the track that often … I feel like it’s not a standard track, as far as I know, that it’s smaller than normal size tracks so that can be a little bit frustrating at times,” Rice said.

A waterproofing company plans to come and seal the deck after removing the track and field, with a consultant observing and certifying the deck as leak proof ensure no further leaking and damage to cars. While other parking structures previously contained leaking issues, the problems were easily fixed since the parking structure decks are exposed rather than covered by a field.

Several other projects, including the redoing of all public spaces in Hart Hall, new lights on the softball field, the moving of offices to Rose Hall and the expansion of Eagle’s Nest, will hopefully begin in the summer and continue throughout the 2016-2017 academic year.