Campus Construction - Alan Dovell/ The Towerlight

It’s no secret that Towson’s campus is undergoing major construction. The finish line for a majority of the current projects is next summer. The concept for campus over the next decade is laid out and it is now a matter of receiving adequate funding and maintaining project timelines.

West Village

The West Village Commons, as well as the Douglass and Barton residence halls (named for prominent Marylanders Fredrick Douglass and Clara Barton) and a six-level, 1,500-space garage, will be completed by Fall 2011. The garage will be on the area that was Lot 22.

The Commons building is located just south of Paca and Tubman between the lawn and the hill leading up to Sheppard Pratt.

“The Commons will be a combination of retail food service, dining hall food service, meeting rooms, lounge space, a convenience store and basically … it’s a mini Union and center focal place for the West Village. It’s built and designed to support what will be almost 3,000 students,” according to associate vice president for auxiliary services Joe Oster.

The garage will have spaces for faculty and staff, commuters, residents and visitors.

“It’s hard to convince people to have events here, so [building a new garage] is a way to be more accommodating,” Oster said.

Oster said final costs for the Douglass and Barton houses are still being worked out, but he predicts the Commons to cost about $33 to $35 million and the garage $25 to $27 million.

“People generally have a difficult time understanding that there are different pots, and the money that goes into a building pot can’t be taken out of the building pot,” interim associate vice president of facilities management, Roger Hayden, said.  “It’s there, period. You can’t take building money and use it for anything but buildings.”

The Post Office and University Store will still be in the current University Union, as will be the business offices for auxiliary services.

As for the additional dining facilities, Oster said Chartwells will expand operations to accommodate the new services.

Capstone will still manage Paca and Tubman houses, but it’s financially better for the new West Village housing to be done through Housing and Residence Life, according to Oster.

Academic Renovations

Phase II of the College of Liberal Arts building should to be completed by August 2011 and is generally ahead of schedule, according to David Mayhew, director of architecture, engineering and construction in the department of facilities management. The phase II building will include an archeology lab, a geography lab and a writing center.

The future of Smith Hall is underway as well. There are five years planned for the construction – two years for the addition to the building and three years for the phased renovation of the existing building, Mayhew said. Everything in the works, however, is subject to change. Designs for the expansion will begin next summer. Mayhew and Hayden did not want to commit to a dollar amount on the project, as it is not yet finalized.

“Budgets are sensitive,” Mayhew said.

A new College of Health Professions building is in a five-year plan, with funding beginning in 2015, according to a testimony on Fiscal Year 2012 Capital Budget Request, which was updated this past July.

Residential Renovations

This year’s students living in Richmond and Newell will be the last to live in those rooms for one year because renovations to the building will begin in the spring and should be completed by August 2012. Renovations include exterior improvements such as windows, roofs and bricks, and improvements to mechanical and electrical systems, Mayhew said.

Ward and West halls will also be vacated for similar renovations. They will not be reopen as residence halls, but may be renovated for other uses.

Housing and Residence Life offices, which are now in the basement of Newell, will be permanently moved to the new Commons building in West Village.