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What’s happening in campus construction? |
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Tuesday, 29 May 2007 |
by ED RABIN
Intern Sports Reporter
With Appalachian State University involved in more than $145 million
worth of construction projects all over campus, the university has
taken full advantage of the fair summer weather in undertaking several
large projects over the course of Summer Break.
From projects as small as replacing cracked sidewalks all the way to
the new dining facility, Appalachian continues to further shape the
future look of campus.
New Dining Hall Active Image | Shanel Boston | The Appalachian
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The New Dining Hall, a $28,500,000 project, is 40 percent complete with phase one of the construction.
Phase one includes construction of the basic dining facilities that will need to be completed before it can be occupied.
Phase one is scheduled to be complete by December, with Welborn Dining Hall moving into its new home over Winter Break.
Welborn will then be demolished in January and converted into green space and a continuation of Sanford Mall.
Stadium Lot
Another huge project underway this summer is the repaving of Stadium Lot and the parking area between Justice and Gardner/Coltrane residence halls.
The $3.1 million project will also demolish the current entrance to the lot and move it down, adjacent to the entrance of the Justice and Gardner/Coltrane lot.
“Then new entrance will make it safer,” Director of Design and Construction Dr. Clyde D. Robbins said. “The goal is to separate the car from the pedestrian.”
 Active Image | Shanel Boston | The Appalachian
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Library Mural
World-renowned artist Brenda Mauney Councill was commissioned to paint a mural in the rotunda of Belk Library & Information Commons. She began May 10 and is on schedule to complete the mural by July 10.
“The mural will interpret the library’s vision, as well as that of donors Carol Grotnes Belk and Irwin Belk,” Councill said.
“The creative planning process yielded many drawings from which to choose the central theme ‘The Quest for Knowledge.’ An iconographic relationship of symbols and representational forms will dominate the lower mural, which will be closest to eye level. These will focus on Appalachian’s academic and athletic programs and be laced with the history of the community of Boone and the university’s continued legacy,” she said.
Kidd Brewer Stadium
With
the press box demolished, the old bathrooms and soccer field house in
the south end zone behind the scoreboard have been taken down.
With the new entrance to Stadium Lot, Owens Field House will have more land available for pedestrian traffic and landscaping.
The first phase of a new Mountaineer Entrance Plaza will begin this summer.
"The
theme is welcome to the rock, but there is no rock," Robbins said. “We
went out to Grandfather Mountain, and they let us have two huge
boulders, about 6 tons each, that we are going to install in that plaza
this summer."
Sofield Family Indoor Practice Facility
 Active Image | Shanel Boston | The Appalachian
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The new Sofield Family Indoor Practice Facility that is being built in behind the outfield of Red Lackey Field is nearly 70 percent completed.
The structure has half its walls up and is awaiting the construction of a retaining wall to hold back a section of exposed hillside.
The facility, which boasts an 80-by-60 yard indoor field, is scheduled to be finished by August.
Pedestrian Skywalk
With Phase one of the construction nearly complete, the skywalk promises to transform the look of Rivers Street.
Phase two, which will take about four months, will connect the skywalk to the new dining hall.
The skywalk will be open for student use by the first day of classes at the beginning of the fall semester.
Other Projects
 Active Image | Shanel Boston | The Appalachian
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The Jim and Beattie Smith Baseball Stadium, while playable, still lacks concessions and locker room facilities, which will soon be completed, Robbins said.
“It's playable right now, but the project is not finished,” he said.
The renovation of Hoey Residence Hall will be complete in early July, with renovation starting on Cannon Residence Hall immediately after.
With Cannon being done by next summer, Frank Residence Hall is next on the list for renovation.
A new fire-access road between I.G. Greer Hall and Welborn is complete.
A $49,100 alumni initiative will replace all the campus signs visible from Rivers Street with black and gold signs like the one at the bottom of Stadium Drive.
Kerr Scott Hall, home to the department of technology, received a small facelift and a name-change after a $1 million donation by Ron Harper, naming the building after his wife, Katherine, effectively naming it Katherine
Harper Hall.
Farthing Auditorium received a $380,000 lighting-system update and the Broyhill Music Center will receive a new roof this summer.
Future Projects
Projects in both the not-so distant and far-off future are in the works that will advance Appalachian’s campus further into the new millennium.
The first priority is a $35,821,000 Reich College of Education building.
“We haven’t resolved a site yet for the college of education building,” Robbins said.
The old college of education building, Edwin Duncan Hall, will be demolished and converted into green space.
Other projects include a four-story parking structure in the parking lot of Holmes Convocation Center, a safety median running the length of Rivers Street and a future college of nursing building.
The college of nursing is, among future projects, the second building priority after the college of education.
The newly acquired communication building, located on 920 Rivers St., is soon to begin renovation. It will house two television studios and supporting classrooms.
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