Construction on the new residence hall, including the tearing up of the Village parking lot, will begin on March 1, according to David Frassinelli, director of Facilities Management.
Frassinelli and Vice President of Administrative and Student Affairs Mark Reed discussed campus planning and construction at a presentation to the FUSA Senate on Sunday night.
An option that remains open is the use of part of the parking lot beside the Quick Center.
It “remains an outstanding issue” who will gain access to those parking spots, Reed told the Senate. The parking lot beside Jogues will be open for Village residents.
The challenge is that the University has a lot of surface parking, but it is not situated in convenient places, said Reed.
“They’re there and they need to be utilized,” said Reed.
The small parking lot behind Claver and the apartments will remain open for use, but some of the spaces will be rededicated as handicapped-only and short-term parking.
The construction is beginning in the middle of this semester because of the constraints of construction, according to Frassinelli. It typically takes 12-15 months for a project to be completed, so Frassinelli must count backward 12-15 months from the time he hopes to open the building and begin construction then.
Senator Will McPherson ‘10 asked the presenters what the University planned to do to reduce disruption of the students during construction, both in terms of noise and in terms of utility use. The utility lines to the Village lie underneath the parking lot where construction will occur.
Frassinelli replied that there is little danger of disrupting utilities because his department has relatively up-to-date and accurate maps of the location of pipes and wires in that area of campus.
Additionally, the work will begin with less disruptive changes such as moving electric wires, so that students do not face problems like the loss of heat during March.
It will be a “pretty contained construction zone” and “not very disruptive,” he said.
Senator Darryl Brackeen Jr. ‘10 asked Reed if it would be feasible to extend the hours of the shuttle to the train station into the morning, to ease the commute of those students with internships in the city. Currently, the train shuttle begins at 12 p.m.
Reed responded that it was “fully possible” to extend the train shuttle and students could work with Student Activities on that problem.
Renovations will happen to the former Jesuit Residence and Dolan Hall, both of which will receive extensive updates. Dolan will be “stripped” down to its walls, said Reed.
All four of the projects will receive new temporary names, with street numbers based on significant numbers in Fairfield history.
For instance, the new building in the quad will be called 70 McCormick Road after 1970, the year when women could become Fairfield undergraduates.
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