Central District construction months ahead of schedule – The University Daily Kansan

The construction in the Central District is set to be complete in the summer of 2018, but Jim Modig, University architect, anticipates that the projects will be finished months in advance.

The new Central District will stretch from just north of 19th Street to just south of Jayhawker Towers, bordering Daisy Hill to the west and Oliver Hall to the east.

Progress wise, in terms of the project, it appears to us at this point that everything right now is running ahead of schedule significantly, Modig said.

Modig said the University is ahead of schedule due to good weather and efficient scheduling by the contractor.

The first of the projects, the new Central District parking garage, was completed in January and will service students, faculty, staff and visitors who travel to the Central District, Modig said.

Likewise, Modig said the new Frank R. Burge Student Union, which will house a ballroom 50 percent larger than the ballroom in the Kansas Union and will be used for large gatherings and conferences, will be completed by spring.

I would anticipate that the Burge Union may be done and ready for occupancy as early as March of 2018, Modig said.

The new union will also house Legal Services for Students, the Sexual Assault Prevention and Education Center and the Emily Taylor Center for Women and Gender Equity, according to theUniversitys website.

Furthermore, Modig said the new Central Utility Plant went into service in June. In addition to meeting the Universitys power and water needs, the plant will also serve as a laboratory for students. The plant has a 45-seat classroom, Modig said.

You actually have a live, living laboratory right there at your fingertips, Modig said. You have a window from the classroom that looks into that, and then you have the capability of actually going down onto the machine-room floor.

Modig also anticipated that the new Integrated Science Building will be completed three months early, with the last third of the building being completed in May 2018.

The ISB will significantly expand the teaching and research space for chemistry, physics and biosciences as well as reduce reliance on the aging Malott Hall, Modig said.

Moreover, the Cora Downs Residence Hall and the South Commons Dining Center were completed in May andopened in August.

Sarah Waters, director of student housing, said both facilities have been well received by students and parents.

We felt that it offered that next level of housing type that would be pretty appealing to many of our students, Waters said.

Waters said Downs Hall is 99 percent full and that about 60 percent of its residents are upperclassmen, while 40 percent are freshmen.

Moreover, Waters said that housing, system-wide, is 96 to 97 percent full, though Corbin Hall is currently closed for renovations.

In addition to a new residence hall, Central District will be the site of the Stouffer Place Apartments, which are set to open in summer 2018.

The only other student apartments on campus are Jayhawker Towers and McCarthy Hall. Waters said, historically, the University hasnt had enough apartment space but that the Stouffer Apartments will allow more upperclassmen to live on campus.

I think [Central District] will have its own niche, ultimately, Waters said. What Im hopeful about with central district, especially with the apartments there including Jayhawker, we will really be able to bring a lot of those students off of Daisy Hill down to the central area to go into Jayhawker and into Stouffer, so well really evolve a second and third-year experience there.

Modig said Central District will become its own community, similar to how Daisy Hill, GSP and Corbin, and the scholarship halls have their three separate communities.

Weve actually created little nodes in these four locations for housing, and so this creates a lot more livelihood in terms of that community experience, Modig said. Instead of having [Oliver] Residence Hall sitting there all by itself, there are other students in the area.

Modig also said a new recreational field, which will be made out of AstroTurf, will help to foster community in the Central District. The field will be completed next month and managed by recreation services.

You add that rec field in there, that to me is probably a kind of crowning jewel piece we havent got that anywhere else on campus, Modig said.

As for future additions to the Central District, Waters said that there are plans to turn the old Oliver Hall dining center into an academic resource center. Waters said the center will serve the Central District similar to how the Daisy Hill Commons serves Daisy Hill residents.

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Central District construction months ahead of schedule - The University Daily Kansan