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Business North - The Daily Briefing - Business Newspaper Online
UW-Superior begins massive construction projects
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4/8/2008 by Richard Thomas |
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(Photo: The UWS mascot and students, along with Chancellor Julius Erlenbach, second from left, break ground on the new student center.)
University of Wisconsin-Superior officials broke ground for a new “green” student center in a ceremony on Monday, April 7. It is the first phase of $64 million in building projects that also includes a new academic building, complete renovation of the library, and the razing of three existing campus buildings.
The new student center is scheduled to open in the fall of 2009. Upon its completion, Rothwell Student Center will be demolished and turned into a parking lot. The $20.9 million project could not receive money from the state’s capital budget, so it is funded mainly by student fees. An additional $4 million in donations also is helping to finance the project.
Students voted to increase their fees in 2004. Beginning in 2005-2006, fees were increased by $80 per year. The increase raises incrementally to $513 per year by 2009-2010, and stays at $513 per year through 2026.
The university seeks Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for the new student center. Design components will reduce energy costs and environmental impact. The new student center will be smaller (80,000 square feet compared to Rothwell’s 112,000) and more efficient. The building will make maximum use of sunlight rather than electrical lighting, construction waste management will divert 75 percent of waste material from landfills and regional materials will be used. A “green roof” will include vegetation to reduce storm water runoff and “heat island effect,” by which building roofs reflect sunlight and raise urban air temperatures.
A $7.7 million renovation of the Jim Dan Hill library, built in 1968, is expected to begin in May after classes end and finish in the fall of 2009. In the interim, the library will move to Rothwell Student Center. Funding is provide by the state and $2 million in donations.
Construction on the new academic building, to be named Swenson Hall, is expected to begin in February 2009 and finish by the fall of 2010. It will replace the existing Sundquist and McCaskill halls. The $32 million, 144,000-square-foot building will be built in the northwest corner of campus on the site once partly occupied by the old Gates Gym. It also will be built for energy conservation. The project includes a new greenhouse to be added to the end of Barstow Hall. Financing is provided by the state and $7 million in donations.
The last major building project on the campus was a new Health and Wellness Center that opened in 2003.
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