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It’s
hammer time.
Starting this month, construction for the new Suzanne Lemberg Usdan
University Center begins.
Alan Rubacha, project manager, is setting up an 8-foot chain-link fence
that will surround the old Alumni Athletic Building and Fayerweather
Gymnasium. The driveway and cement walkway that currently provide access
from Wyllys Avenue to the lot behind South and North College will be closed
to vehicles and pedestrians as of Monday, June 13. The lot itself will be
closed except for handicap access and service. Parking has been reassigned
to the lot adjacent to the Office of Admission and to the lot behind the
Center for Film Studies.
Foot traffic will be diverted around the “L” shaped construction site. The
pathway along College Row, between Wyllys Avenue and Judd Hall will not be
affected.
Foot traffic west of Fayerweather will be diverted onto a temporary gravel
access road. The road, 18-feet wide, will cut from Wyllys Avenue across
Andrus Field behind Fayerweather and end in the lot behind South and North
College. This access road will be for foot traffic, handicap, emergency, service
and construction vehicles only.
A portion of Fayerweather, the old Alumni Athletic Building and power plant
will be demolished to make room for the Usdan University Center.
Between four and six construction trailers will be set up behind South
College. Rubacha will mark this area with white stripes. He warns that, for
employees of the Office of Admission, North and South College, the site will
be “noisy and dusty.”
“It
will be loud, there’s no question about it,” he says.
The Usdan University Center will consolidate dining facilities for students
and faculty, and will provide seminar and meeting spaces. It will house the
Wesleyan Student Assembly, the post office, and retail space. Facilities for formal and informal
gatherings and events will complement those available in the Memorial Chapel
and '92 Theater. A south-facing plaza and second story terrace will overlook
Andrus Field and will provide an outdoor venue.
David
Hall, manager of Grounds and Special Events, says the construction zone will
not affect athletic games or bleacher set-ups.
The
building is expected to be completed in August 2007.
For more information on plans for the University Center, visit
http://www.wesleyan.edu/masterplan/univcenter.html. |
