Staff WriterConstruction continues around campus affecting not only current students, but future ones as well.
Mountainview Community, the new on-campus dorm complex, is scheduled for partial completion by next school year. While Marcy and Hunter Halls will be finished in time for fall 2003, the remaining buildings of Mountainview will not be completed until fall 2004.
When Mountainview is complete, it will include four dormitory halls, a dining hall and amenities similar to other communities on campus. The new halls are designed to include six- and four-person suites, each with a living room, two full baths, a study lounge on each floor, elevators, laundry facilities and air conditioning.
Like Dickinson, Newing, Hinman and CIW, Mountainview will continue the Universitiy's tradition of naming the buildings of each community along certain themes. Mountainview will honor some of the highest peaks in New York State, including Marcy, Hunter, Windham and Cascade.
Construction on Hunter and Marcy halls is taking place simultaneously and are 40 percent and 25 percent complete, respectively.
Until Mountainview's dining hall is complete, Mountainview students will be able to use the new Hinman dining hall, which began renovation this past December.
The new Hinman dining hall will include expanded student capacity, allowing up to 550 students at maximum capacity.
"The entire inside of the building will be gutted and renovated," said Karen Fennie, a spokeswoman for Physical Facilities. "All new kitchen equipment and layout will be modified for better student traffic flow and seating capacity."
The Night Owl, Hinman's grill cafe, will close as a new convenience store will open inside the new Hinman dining hall.
Construction also continues as workers replace PCB transformers around campus. Under New York State law, transformers using PCBs as coolants were banned and must be replaced. While most buildings have had their transformers replaced with ones that are compliant with state law, some buildings still require work. While replacing the transformers, workers will also replace asbestos, which has lengthened the time of construction.
The Binghamton University Event Center, better known as the field house is currently 76 percent complete, and is scheduled to open in April 2004. The field house will not only be used for sporting events, but important campus ceremonies, with a maximum seating capacity of 8,000.
