Campus Bookstore/Student Services and Graduate Student Commons Construction Project

Answers to frequently asked questions

Q: What is planned for the campus bookstore and Whole Earth Restaurant area?

A: There are four main elements of this major new construction project (view drawings). These are:

• A new bookstore: 21,950 assignable square feet (asf) occupying the first two floors of a new three-story building. When completed, the Bay Tree Bookstore will offer an expanded selection of books, supplies, and services, including a convenience store and copy center.
• New offices and conference rooms: 8,000 asf of office space for expanding student services, plus four conference rooms and two outdoor decks, occupying the third floor of the new bookstore building.
• New facilities for graduate students and a new restaurant: 4,825 asf for a two-story Graduate Student Commons building with recreational, office, and study space for graduate students and a campus restaurant, which will be occupied by the Whole Earth when construction is completed.
• A large pedestrian plaza: 80,000 square feet of new public plaza, designed to link the new bookstore and Graduate Commons buildings with the existing structures: the Redwood Building, currently housing the Whole Earth, and the current bookstore. The plaza will create outdoor dining areas for the restaurant and a general gathering space with benches, lighting improvements, and decorative limestone boulders. The landscaping plan calls for a mixture of native trees, shrubs, and ground covers.

Q: When will construction be finished?

A: Groundbreaking on the project took place in August 1998. The buildings are anticipated to be ready for occupancy and the plaza finished by spring 2000.

Q: How much does the project cost, and what are the sources of funding?

A: The total cost of the two new buildings and plaza is expected to be $13.5 million, which will be paid for in several ways.

• The bookstore portion of the project ($8.6 million) is being funded by $3.4 million from bookstore capital reserves accumulated over a number of years and a $5.2 million, 27-year loan that will be repaid from bookstore revenue.
• The student services offices and conference rooms portion of the project ($2.7 million) is being funded by $1.0 million from Registration Fee capital reserves and a $1.7 million, 27-year loan which will be repaid from Registration Fee income.
• The graduate student portion of the project ($2.2 million) is being funded by $1.2 million from Graduate Student Facilities Fee reserves accumulated since 1965, and an $814,000, 27-year loan. An additional $200,000 for the project has come from chancellor's funds and from Registration Fee capital reserves. Graduate students voted in December 1996 to increase their Graduate Student Facilities Fee once construction is completed to pay off the construction loan and maintain the building.
• The cost of building the plaza has been prorated, and each project is sharing a portion of the construction and maintenance expense.

Q: What will happen to the existing buildings in the area once the new construction is completed?

A: The Student Affairs Division, which is responsible for the two existing buildings, has not made a final determination about how the vacated buildings will be used.

• Over the past academic year, a space-planning committee for Student Affairs gathered information about the division's projected needs for space by the year 2000 and generated ideas for future student-support programs that need the released space. The committee has presented several preliminary proposals to the vice chancellor and members of the division.
• It is not known at this time whether the Redwood Building can be rehabilitated or if it will have to be demolished.

Q: Are the Bay Tree Bookstore, the Whole Earth Restaurant, and the ATM machines open for business during construction?

A: Yes. The two businesses and the ATM machines will remain open and continue to be accessible via pathways from Hagar Drive, Steinhart Way, and the Classroom Unit Building, and via buses and shuttles (see below).

Q: Where can I park during construction?

A: There is one parking space for disabled persons in front of the Whole Earth Restaurant. Visitors may use the East Field House lot, where some additional metered spaces will be added, and the metered lot in front of the Hahn Student Services Building. People with parking permits may use one of the "A," "B," or "C" lots at Cowell and Stevenson; the "A" lot at Hahn; or the East Remote lot--where the attendant-parking program will be expanded to accommodate anyone who wishes to park in that area.

Q: Will all of the parking spaces formerly located in the area return once construction is completed?

A: Approximately 16 parking spaces are expected to return once construction is completed. No "A" permit parking is planned for the area. The decision to site these new buildings on the existing parking lot was in keeping with the campus's Long-Range Development Plan (LRDP), which calls for an emphasis on the use of infill sites (including parking lots) for new campus construction projects. Further, the LRDP calls for constraints on the provision of close-in parking and an emphasis on remote parking, in conjunction with improvements to the campus shuttle system and other transportation alternatives.

Q: What about shuttle services?

A: Shuttles continue to drop off and pick up passengers in the bookstore lot as before, and there is improved shuttle service between the East Remote lot and the campus core. TAPS estimates a shuttle or transit bus will stop at the lot every three to five minutes while school is in session.

Q: Can I still walk through the area?

A: People are not allowed to walk through the construction site. To accommodate those who normally would have walked through the former parking lot area, the southbound (downhill) lane of a section of Hagar Drive will be converted into a pedestrian pathway. Several pathways near the bookstore area have also been closed.

• The tunnel linking the north side of McLaughlin Drive and the Upper Quarry is closed.
• A pathway between McLaughlin Drive and the bookstore is closed.
• One of the pathways between the Classroom Unit and the bookstore lot is also closed; the other remains open.

Q: Which section of Hagar Drive will be closed to cars while construction is under way?

A: The southbound lane of Hagar Drive from McLaughlin Drive to the stop sign at Steinhart Way is scheduled to be closed to vehicular traffic starting in fall 1998. The rest of Hagar, between Steinhart and Coolidge Drive, will remain a two-way road.

Q: May bicyclists use the new pedestrian pathway on Hagar?

A: Bicyclists may walk their bikes on the pathway or use alternate routes to leave campus. They may continue to ride up Hagar Drive and down the two-way section of the road.

Q: Will events continue to take place in the Upper Quarry Amphitheater?

A: Events traditionally held in the quarry--commencements, convocations, theatrical performances, and special lectures--will be relocated while construction is under way.

Q: Does the project fit in with UCSC's plans for campus development?

A: Definitely. The campus's Long-Range Development Plan (LRDP) Implementation Program, adopted in 1993 and based on the campus's 1988 LRDP, describes a two- or three-story bookstore, pedestrian plaza, and student-related facilities creating a gateway to the Upper Quarry.

Q: Who designed the bookstore and Graduate Commons buildings?

A: Esherick Homsey Dodge and Davis (EHDD), an architecture, graphic, and interior design firm based in San Francisco, designed the buildings and plaza. The firm's previous projects include UCSC's Stevenson College and Science Library, as well as the Monterey Bay Aquarium and libraries for UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco.

Q: Where can I get more information?

A: For questions regarding construction on the project, call Physical Planning and Construction at (831) 459-2170. For questions about parking and other transportation issues, including shuttle routes and schedules, call Transportation and Parking Services at 459-2190 or access www2.ucsc.edu/taps.

Go to previous Currents articles on project:

• Project overview
  
• Groundbreaking

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