While many students leave Ball State University for the summer, university construction is working to make minor and major changes to campus.
From small changes like the extension of new underground high-voltage system cables to larger projects such as renovations on North Quad and Studebaker East, the university is working to meet deadlines as early as the end of the summer.
Jim Lowe, director of engineering, construction, and operations, said some of the projects should be completed by Fall 2010, but others will be done in one or two years.
Some of the projects have been in the university's to do list since the 1990s and some have been for a longer time, some of these including the renovations and construction of buildings, Lowe said. The summer is most often used to start construction, he said.
"We touch bottom with every building on campus," he said. "We might have less time, but we try to make as many fixes as we can over the summer."
Some of the projects that start this summer are:
— Drilling of the boreholes by Carmichael Hall continue for the summer as phase one of the Geothermal project and is scheduled to be done by the end of the Summer.
— The Student Recreation and Wellness Center, which has been under renovation since summer 2008, is scheduled to reopen during welcome week, according to a previous Ball State Daily News article.
— Completion of Kinghorn Hall is expected to be competed by the end of summer. It will open its doors to 600 students in the fall semester.
— Studebaker East is shut down, and will be undergoing demolition work for a total renovation. The project is scheduled to be done for Fall 2012.
— North Quad started going under renovation last week starting with the west section. The building will be divided into three sections and each section should be completed in six months. Completion of the entire is scheduled for Jan. 2012.
— Demolition work has already started for the renovation of Neely Avenue. The street will have similarities with McKinley Avenue, having a landscape division between the lanes. There will be no parking allowed after the completion, which will be done by the end of summer.
— Glick Center for Glass is scheduled to be completed for the fall semester. It will be the first building to use the geothermal heat pump system.
Lowe said this year is unusual because of the amount of projects scheduled to go in the summer — about 20 projects will start, with some extended to a year or two. Despite the number of projects, Lowe said construction will be working around orientation schedules and routes, to avoid any disturbance.
By the start of fall semester students coming back to campus will find new buildings, renovated streets and more buildings under construction, but Lowe said he thinks the area around Neely Avenue might be the most attractive to students and visitors.
"When Student Recreation and Wellness Center and Kinghorn hall are open for the fall, the connectivity between the buildings in that area will become a beautiful recreation and study area," he said. "That area will be a real wow."
But after the fall the list of projects will continue growing, projects already in the doing and others up in the air, Lowe said.
"In the future I see more renovations occurring in the next years," he said. "The geothermal project will continue over the years as others will be added."
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