Construction of Dillard’s new $14.9 million Student Union and its $40 million Professional Schools and Science Building are both expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2010, according to Dr. Edgar Chase, vice president of facilities and planning.
Work on the pilings for the 57,000-square-foot, three-story Student Union began in January, two months behind schedule, Chase said, while construction of the 127,000-square-foot, three-story Professional Schools building got under way in November 2007. Both should complete around the same time because the union is much smaller than the classroom building, he said.
The new Student Union, to be located near the duck pond and adjacent to the Cook Center, is a design-build project being constructed by Landis LLC. Campo Architects designed the structure. Both companies have New Orleans offices.
Due for completion in March 2010, it will include a bowling alley, theater, exercise room, yoga center and wellness clinic, said Dr. M. Denese Short-Bridges, assistant vice president of facilities planning and the HBCU Capital Program Project. It is due for completion in March 2010.
The Professional Schools and Science Building, behind the Cook Center, was designed as a joint project by the architectural firms Madison & Madison International of Detroit (owned by minority women) and Sizeler, Thompson and Brown of New Orleans.
Due for completion in January 2010, it will house the divisions of Natural Sciences, Nursing and Business as well as the departments of Computer Science, Public Health and Mathematics. The new building will include classrooms and state-of-the-art laboratories, faculty offices and a 400-seat auditorium/multipurpose space for lectures and assembly. A water feature is planned in front of the building.
Officials said the Professional Schools building, which is about 10 percent complete, has experienced delays because of hurricane season.
When complete, the building will be certified as “gold” by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, a green building rating system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council. “Gold” is the second level in the rating system. Certification indicates energy and water efficiency along with a safe and healthy building environment.
Both buildings are being funded through the HBCU Capital Funding Program, a federal initiative to provide funding to improve the infrastructures of HBCUs. Specifically, the program is intended to repair/renovate old buildings and construct new ones. Funds also were allocated to Xavier University and Southern University of New Orleans.
