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June 15, 1998
UCSC construction activity will rise with the temperature this year, as a number of projects get started in June, July, and August. The following is a list of projects either breaking ground or under way this summer.
Construction is expected to start in August on the 6,600-square-foot commons and 30,000-square-foot bookstore expansion. The commons will offer office and recreational space for graduate students and a small restaurant and will be located near the Upper Quarry entrance. A new wing of the bookstore, with office and meeting space for the Division of Student Affairs, will be located across the parking lot from the existing bookstore. There will be a pedestrian plaza in between. The projects, totaling $13.5-million, are expected to be completed in spring 2000.
Due to the construction taking place in the bookstore area, the Upper Quarry will not be accessible during construction. Events--such as commencements, convocations, theatrical performances, and special lectures--traditionally held in the quarry will be relocated during that time. The parking lot will retain some short-term parking and will continue to be a hub for campus shuttles.
Ground was officially broken last week for a 10,600-square-foot weight-training and fitness center for the Office of Physical Education, Recreation, and Sports. Approved by student voters in the spring 1996 elections, the $4 million facility is expected to be completed for opening in fall 1999. The project also includes improvements to the upper east playing field, swimming pool lighting, and storage and maintenance buildings.
Construction is scheduled to start in June on the College Nine Apartments, which will be located north of the existing College Nine and Ten academic buildings. The apartments will house 280 undergraduate students when complete in fall 1999.
Work crews will begin making improvements starting June 23 to the Coolidge Drive/Campus Facilities intersection. The $450,000 project includes widening Coolidge Drive to provide left-turn pockets, adding improved transit pullouts and a shelter, adding a new outbound bike path to the intersection, and paving a portion of the Blacksmith Shop access road. The road entering the Campus Facilities/Carriage House area will be resurfaced as well. Construction is expected to be completed by late September. For more information, call Teresa Buika at (408) 459-3826.
Starting June 23, crews will resurface the Performing Arts lot and install new drainage and oil sedimentation facilities. The work is scheduled to be completed no later than July 25 in order to accommodate the Shakespeare Santa Cruz season. Only limited parking will be allowed to those with the appropriate permits. TAPS will run a special shuttle, Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., from the West Remote Parking Lot to Performing Arts while work is under way. Call TAPS at (408) 459-4543 or 459-2190 for more information or access http://www.ucsc.edu/currents/messages/taps.projects.htm
Crews are expected to start work in late summer on the first phase of alterations to spaces in the Applied Sciences Building. These alterations are designed to prepare the building for occupancy by the new Jack Baskin School of Engineering. The $4 million project is expected to be completed in spring 1999.
The second phase of construction on the Improvements to the Arts project began in May 1997 and is expected to continue through the fall. The $14.3 million project includes the construction of additional art studios and an expanded woodshop at Baskin Visual Arts; a 400-seat general assignment lecture hall and a 200-seat teaching lab/experimental theater at Performing Arts; additions to the Music Center; and a music studio for Indonesian gamelan practice and performance. Improvements are also being made to existing spaces in the Performing Arts area and in the Communications Building.
Work will continue through the summer on the second phase of the $8.1 million Student Communications System. The network of fiber-optic and high-speed copper cables (dubbed SlugNet) will link computers to UCSC's computer network and provide telephone service in all campus residential areas when the work is finished in September 1999. Kresge, Porter, Oakes, College Eight, and the Graduate Student Apartments are being linked to the network in the second phase, which will be completed this fall. Family Student Housing will be linked to SlugNet in the third and final phase.
Two student apartment suites will be remodeled this summer at Kresge College. An existing accessible unit on the ground floor will be upgraded to meet current codes, and a "saddlebag" addition to the rear of the building will increase the size of the rooms. The $350,000 renovation, which will be finished in September, will incorporate successful features of previous Kresge apartment remodels.
Construction is under way on the $4.4 million Marine Discovery Center, a gift-funded facility designed with a 1,300-square-foot marine sciences teaching lab and 15,000 square feet of exhibit, aquarium, auditorium, meeting, and office space next to Long Marine Lab. The project is scheduled to be finished in spring 1999.
Work started this spring on improvements to facilities on Mt. Hamilton, where UCSC's Lick Observatory is located. The $5.8 million project includes replacing septic systems and heating systems in residences, removing underground fuel tanks, and renovating deteriorated roads. The work is expected to be completed by fall 2000.