The Westhampton Center construction began first and will end first. It started after Thanksgiving and is projected to end in August or September 2009. The Robins Foundation granted $3 million of the $3.6 million center, and more than 200 supporters have closed the gap in gifts. The contractor is RVA Construction and Smith McClane Architects is the architect.
Construction of the Carole Weinstein International Center began in mid-December 2008. The building must be completed in July 2010 to move faculty in for the fall semester. Because of the construction, the visitor's parking across from Sarah Brunet Hall was relocated to the lot between the Roger Millhiser Gymnasium and Sarah Brunet Hall. Glave Holmes Associates is the architect, and the contractor is Taylor and Parrish Construction. The center costs $20.4 million.
Carole Weinstein has donated $9 million, but according to Herb Peterson, vice president of business and finance, "We expect to get more than that."
The First Market Stadium construction began in mid-December 2008 alongside the International Center and must be finished by August 2010 for the first home football game on Sept. 11.
"These projects are tracking identically," McBride said. He also said that the "L" lot, next to Sarah Brunet Hall, where third-year law students park, would be closed around Feb. 1 for the installation of underground utilities for the East Grandstand. Hourigan Construction Corp. is the contractor, and the architects are BCWH Architects in conjunction with McMillan Smith and Partners. The expansion costs $28.4 million, and commitments totaling $24 million have been made, Peterson said.
But the $28.4 million doesn't include the two road projects promised to the community in order to acquire a Special Use permit. According to McBride, two road projects will help keep traffic inside the campus by creating a turning lane off River Road into campus and connecting dead-end roads by the Modlin Center and the 1300 block of the apartments. The road construction needs to be completed by 2010 or 2011.
Another part of the deal made with the neighborhoods includes recycling the concrete from the old stadium and to keep any "useable" excavated soil on campus. The fenced-in area near Lora Robins Court is being used as a fill site.
The Queally Hall addition to the Robins School of Business will begin after graduation this semester and is set to finish in spring 2011. The architect is Worley Associates. Taylor and Parrish Construction will be the contractor.
About $15 million of the $19.5 million addition has been raised in pledged and paid gifts. This includes the $6 million gift from the foundation of alumni Paul B. Queally and Anne-Marie Flinn Queally, a 1986 graduate.
University facilities managed the contracting for the new WDCE radio station in the basement of North Court. They have 30 percent less space, but a new studio and equipment. The university funded most of the project, but the radio station contributed more than $20,000 of its own money. Vest said the station would not be doing as many concerts this year.
General Manager Ben Russell said, "The renovation has been an arduous process. ... I recognized that it was a necessary step in reinventing WDCE and reinvigorating current and potential DJs -- we now have a very full schedule."
Permission has also been granted to study an addition to the T.C. Williams School of Law estimated to cost $10.2 million.
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Contact staff writer Maura Bogue at maura.bogue@richmond.edu
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