Just because the students are on summer break doesn’t mean Grounds will be quiet. UVA Facilities Planning and Construction has a full slate of projects lined up.
For example, the University is spending $33.2 million to revitalize Newcomb Hall, which houses a dining hall and many student meeting spaces. Extensive maintenance and repairs, aesthetic improvements, and mechanical systems upgrades should have the building looking sharp by November 2012.
The expansion will also include a two-story addition that will add 500 new seats of dining space to both the upstairs Newcomb Dining Hall and first floor Pavilion XI area.
The University also plans to renovate its first-year housing facilities on Alderman Road, demolishing many of the existing buildings and replacing them.
In the third of its four-phase plan to improve and expand first year housing on Alderman Road, two new residence halls will be constructed on the former sites of the Webb and Maupin houses. The five-story halls will house 356 first-year students and 10 to 20 resident advisors, and this phase of the project is expected to cost $40.8 million.
The fourth and final phase of the Alderman Road construction plan will add a residential building on the former sites of Lile House and Tuttle House, which will house 192 students and eight resident advisors at a cost of $29 million.
Both phases of the Alderman Road construction project are set to finish by August 2013.
While the connection to the South Lawn Terrace is complete, there is still much work to be done in the New Cabell Hall renovation, which aims to fully replace the building’s guts and skin. The $64.5 million includes revamping walls, floors, ceilings, elevator cabs, and telephone and data systems.
The New Cabell Hall project is not scheduled for completion until September 2014 because major parts of the building, specifically many classrooms, need to remain open during construction.
Across campus, the Thrust Theater will be a welcome addition to the existing drama building on Culbreth Road. The two-story 7,000 square foot multipurpose performance and film theater will add 20,450 square feet of needed space for performance and stage support, restrooms, storage, and a renovation to the existing lobby and ticketing at a price of $13.5 million and will finish by December 2012.
Additional construction projects are taking place away from Central Grounds at the North Grounds Recreation Center, which will see a $17.21 million expansion. The Law School’s Slaughter Hall will be renovated by August 2012.
Check out the UVA Facilities Planning & Construction website for more information and a full list of UVA’s construction projects.