Construction continues at the Village at West Campus

The whirring and buzzing of saws and machines reverberated across the Village at West Campus as residence hall construction continued in late October.

Construction began during the summer and was intended to be complete before the official move-in day. Originally, the crews were only intent on repairing the stairwells of the 100, 200 and 300 buildings on West Campus. But upon further inspection, a need arose for repairs on the outside of the buildings. Rust was found underneath the stucco work and needed to be removed immediately.

“The work that is going on now is not being thrown by the school. The stairwell repair was the only construction that was funded by the university,” a Village office staff member said last week.

As of last week, the work on the rust spots was nearly complete on the Building 300 and it appeared that construction would continue on to Building 200. The estimated time of completion was unknown.

The feelings of nearby residents appeared mixed last week.

“It’s slightly annoying and I really don’t understand what’s going on over there or why it has to be done in the first place,” Kaitlyn Dietz, a Building 600 resident assistant, said.

The Bridge Scholars students moved into Building 600 this summer, a couple of months before the fall semester began. Upon their move-in day the construction was entering its conception and few residents occupying the building over the summer said they knew the reasons for the work.

“I didn’t really know what they were doing over there. I just thought the construction was for improving the appearance of the buildings,” Bridge Scholar Freshmen Elisa Bremer said.

To many living at West Campus, the construction has been a bitter-sweet process. Village administration acknowledged that work simply needed to be done. However, even though the timeframe of construction effort rather vague, some residents expect a more expeditive pace in the repairs.

“We need it to be done, yes. The downside of it all is that it’s just taking way too long,” Daniel Yarborough, a 400 Building resident, said.

Yarborough, a C.A., is one of the staff members that can monitor the gradual process of construction from the Village office. He, along with other student staff members who have been at West Campus since two weeks before move-in day are wondering when the work will be completed. Even parents who toured the Village during the 2009 Fall Fest weekend uttered small complaints concerning the blotches covering the stucco on the 300 Building.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Nov 6 2009. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry