During the spring and summer, there will be a large number of facility improvement projects across campus, including renovations in PepsiCo Recreation Center, Centennial Hall and the Thomas Tredway Library. The total cost of these projects is estimated to range between $1.2 and $1.4 million, said David English, chief financial officer and vice president of finance and administration.
This total includes the installation of new roofs on PepsiCo, Centennial and the Library. The lower campus entrance to the library will also undergo renovation, including the stairs and handrails.
Other projects include continued maintenance on the 7th Avenue retaining wall, renovation of Viking and Zander TLAs (Transitional Living Areas) and the direct steam lines. Joe Scifo, director of facilities services, noted that most of the projects being done are general campus maintenance.
Additionally, there have been proposals to repurpose the College Center loft as a performing arts theater. Scifo said the project is still in its designing stages, and has not been put in for a construction bid yet.
Kai Swanson, executive assistant to the president, believes this construction would help further the success of the theater program at Augustana.
“Theater has become such a strong program at Augie, and it has been historically, but it has bad facilities,” said Swanson.
Swanson said this project would help “bring the facilities up to the quality of the program.”
A major project that has been put up for a construction bid is Westerlin Residence Hall remodeling. The entire process would be on a six-year plan. English reports that its cost are estimated at $2 million per year, although this has not been finalized yet.
The main goal of all of these programs is to improve the overall quality of campus facilities.
“(We) try to take what we’ve got, improve it, expand it where necessary and make it better,” said Swanson.