The renovations that have kept cement trucks and construction workers on campus this semester should be completed sometime in 2011, officials said.
According to Karen Fennie, spokeswoman for Physical Facilities at Binghamton University, a number of changes to BU’s campus are in the works, and some of them are visible today. Lot T, the parking lot between Johnson and O’Connor Halls of Dickinson Community, is one project that is almost complete, and will be done ahead of schedule, Fennie said.
“It was supposed to be done mid-December, but will probably be finished before then,” Fennie said.
Updates to Newing College are also underway. According to Fennie, all of the dorms will be torn down and rebuilt — starting with the destruction of Broome Hall. Demolition will begin after commencement in May 2009.
BU plans to have the first building up and running by the fall semester next year, she said.
In addition to this, there will be only one dining hall between the Newing and Dickinson communities.
According to Fennie, Residential Life spoke with students ahead of time about the plans for only one collegiate center. Faculty members did not know how students would react to this new idea, she added, but there have not been any recent complaints.
However, when the Student Association held an East Campus referendum vote last semester, 395 — roughly 90 percent — of the 411 students who participated said that they would prefer two separate collegiate centers to be constructed for the two communities.
Ashley Stein, a sophomore majoring in history who lives in Delaware Hall of Newing Community, said that she has been woken up by construction occurring in Dickinson Community.
“In general, I would say it’s too many things going on at once,” she said. “I feel like they really need to focus on one area at a time instead of starting so many at the same time.”
Though Stein said she thought construction would be a good thing for future students, she said it was annoying right now, especially for people living next to the construction.
According to Fennie, the goal of the renovations is to have better, more updated facilities at BU. The Old University Union, for example, has been stripped of all asbestos and will be equipped with new lighting and windows to make it more energy efficient, Fennie said. The project is scheduled to be complete in August of 2009.
An enclosed bus area is also going to be added to the outside of the Old Union.
Perhaps the most anticipated project is the construction of a Science V building, according to Fennie, who said the new building will be built located in between Science buildings III and IV. A patio currently exists there, so the campus will be affected, but there will be pedestrian detours to direct students to the main campus, she said.
Fennie said that the administration is doing its best to notify students of all these changes ahead of time, so they are prepared to cope with the heavy amounts of construction.
The campus is very happy with the construction workers and the way plans have been going, she said. They are ahead of schedule and working very diligently and efficiently.
Construction is going much more smoothly than she expected, Fennie added.