Seattle University Spectator

Issue: 7/14/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Jessica Ishmael The Facilities Services Dept. is currently planning $95 million worth of campus projects, as well as $50 million in potential construction.

Media Credit: Seattle University While the library is completed, materials will be kept in the Qwest building. It's uncertain whether students will have access to resources.

College is always a transitional time for students, but the coming years will also be a transitional time for Seattle University. With several construction projects starting this year and many more slated for the future, the face of Seattle U is changing inside and out.

In charge of overseeing the transformation process is Facilities Services, a part of Seattle U as vast and multifaceted as the structures and grounds they plan and maintain. The department is responsible for the continual upkeep of univer­sity grounds, maintenance on exist­ing structures and the planning and construction of new buildings.

The department is currently designing and plan­ning about $95 mil­lion worth of projects (although not all are currently funded) and another $50 million worth of potential projects as part of the univer­sity's long-term goals.

"Facilities used to be a depart­ment who said their busy time was in summer, but now […] the work load is really a year-round thing," said Sari Graven, director of pro­gram and resource development, also serving as interim Facilities director. "With so many projects going on, we always have something to do."

The most immediate projects are the 12th and Cherry residence, cur­rently under construction, and the Lemieux Library renovation.

The library will receive a $50 million facelift for 2010, something most students and staff say is long overdue. The construction project will add another building to the east side of the existing library. The addition, called the McGoldrick Learning Commons, will include more study spaces and technologi­cal services for students.

As part of Facilities conservation and green building efforts, the library addition will also contain a rain gar­den, similar to what was added last fall outside the Lynn Building. The garden will absorb water and cut down on erosion and pollution.

Construction is scheduled to begin in summer 2009 and finish in the fall of 2010, according to Steve de Bruhl, project manager. Library facilities will be moved to a temporary location in the Qwest building, on 13th Avenue, during April of next year and will remain there for 14 months during the construction.

Student access to resources--such as books, videos and printers--will be limited during this process, and the full extent of what will be avail­able is still up in the air. Facilities is working alongside Seattle U librar­ians to make the transitional period as smooth as possible.

Another upcoming project is a fitness center, a new addition to the south end of Connolly which will replace the existing exercise room with a large, two-story building. Construction for the fitness center is scheduled to begin in January 2009 and will be completed the fol­lowing year. Heading the project is Joy Jacobson, director of design and construction.

"We are still pretty early in our design process, but in general, it is pretty basic," said Jacobson, pointing to an early ground plan. The fitness center will include numerous exer­cise and weight lifting machines, exercise rooms, day lockers and office space.

"Luckily this project will be a bit simpler than the library addition be­cause we won't have to move […] anyone," she added.

The fitness center addition is phase one in a set of Connolly reno­vations. As of now, however, it is the only one funded and scheduled for construction.

"While we have permission un­der our current Major Institution Master Plan to build this fitness center, anything else we want to do to Connolly has to wait," Jacobson said. "We are not sure how long the entire renovation will take or what it will fully involve."

While the specifics are still up in the air, a major goal for Jacobson and the other construction planners is to employ green building tactics in constructing the fitness center.

"We've come up with a lot of good ideas--natural lighting, natu­ral ventilation, recycled materials, sustainable materials--but we are still figuring it all out," she said.

"We even talked about connect­ing the treadmills to other machines to create energy," Graven joked.

Students should expect to see plenty of construction sites around campus and shouldn't be surprised when the library shuts down after spring break, officials said. While the transition might not always be smooth, both Graven and Jacobson say the results will be well worth the wait.

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