Construction of the recreation center is anticipated to begin in late 2008 or early 2009. The project is still in the design phase with architects putting together a new price after having to review and revise the previously drawn design for compliance with updated building codes.
Architects should have an updated price “soon,” Mike Davis, assistant vice president for administration, said while addressing the Student Government Association Monday.
The University, with its financial adviser and investment banker, will then formulate a business plan which needs approval from several organizations including the University of Louisiana Systems Board of Regents and Board of Supervisors.
“It’s a process that must be followed, but it’s a process that’s moving along,” Davis said. “You all don’t see what’s happening right now because we’re not doing anything on the property you can visually see. Everything is being done behind the scenes right now.”
Davis said he anticipates being able to accept bids for construction in the latter quarter of the year, possibly October, with construction starting in late 2008 or January 2009.
The project was in the design phase and moving ahead when the University ran into difficulties with acquiring the land, and the University had to stop progress on the project.
Once the land was acquired this fall, University officials met with architects immediately to start the project again but found the subcontractors had moved on to other projects.
According to Davis, the project was delayed again for three months while a team was assembled. The design, which was completed before the delay in obtaining the land, had to be reviewed and brought up to current standards, which, according to Davis, drove up the price. A significant change made to the design due to new building codes is the addition of another interior staircase, which was not required when the design was originally drafted.
In addition to waiting for the new price from the architecture firm, the University is having crews survey the land and test the soil, which will garner information needed for the foundation design. A contractor has also been hired to rid the former sugar cane field of cane stalks, which if left alone will soon grow into sugar cane posing problems to construction.
Davis said those students who have paid the $74.25 rec center fee and have graduated or will graduate before the completion of the building will have access to the center for as many semesters as they paid the fee.
The state-funded renovations to Beauregard Hall, which the University has been requesting since 1983, are also in the design phase, but the design is currently over the $14.8 million budget, according to Davis. Davis also said University officials are meeting with architectures today to discuss making some cutbacks.
Though construction to make Beauregard a state-of-the-art science building will likely not start until October, Davis said the building will probably not open at all for the fall semester. For the duration of the 18-month construction phase, classes will be moved into Peltier Hall, and the departments will be moved into the lobby of South Babington Hall.
Davis also gave an update on the residence halls, which he said are running “a little behind schedule” but are still projected to be completed by the contractor’s original dates of Aug. 1 for the hall across from Vernon F. Galliano Cafeteria and Aug. 8 for the two halls near La Maison du Bayou.
If for some reason the halls are not ready by the start of the fall semester, Davis said the existing halls would be used for temporary housing; however, some of those halls – Meade, Long and Millet/Zeringue halls – will be demolished. The property these residence halls sit on will be reverted to green space.
Davis said he is optimistic the contractors donating the approximately $500,000 soccer complex should be starting construction this month. The complex is expected to be completed in August.
The Cotillion Ballroom in the Bollinger Memorial Student Union will likely also be renovated. Davis said a private donor who wishes to remain anonymous is looking to provide the funds, estimated at between $1.6 to 2 million, to extensively renovate the ballroom and Plantation Suite.
If all goes according to schedule, Davis said he is expecting construction to start July 1 and be finished Dec. 1.
“The ballroom just doesn’t suit our needs right now,” Davis said. “This will be a great addition to our University.”
Davis said it is nice to see people doing things for the University.
“People are really stepping up and buying what’s going on at Nicholls,” Davis said. “It’s a busy time, but it’s an exciting time.
