Summer is a time for construction at the University.
According to Martha Koontz, communications and marketing specialist with Facilities Administration, there are two main projects this summer: the Samford Park redevelopment and the re-roofing of Samford Hall. She said other projects will still go on, such as the construction to Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Ben Burmester, campus planner, said the phase two Samford Park redevelopment project is to construct a 14-foot-wide brick arcing path from Toomer’s Corner to Samford Hall. He said it builds on the work done last year at Toomer’s Corner and provides a hierarchy within Samford Park and more open lawn space within the park. He also said this summer will provide “hardscape and landscape” for the project with future tree planning of descendant Auburn Oaks planned for winter.
Accoridng to Burmester, the work begins after spring graduation and will end just before fall 2015.
Burmester said they are trying to minimize the impact of the construction as much as they can. He said to prevent all of Samford Park from being fenced off during the summer, the project is split into two pieces. The first phase of work is the work from Toomer’s Corner to Langdon Hall and second phase is work from Langdon Hall to Samford Hall.
According to Koontz and Burmester, the Office of Communication and Marketing held a meeting last month and presented the projects to a group of campus constituents, including Camp War Eagle.
“Camp War Eagle’s event on Toomer’s should still be able to go through the park and make it downtown,” Burmester said.
Melissa Dunn, assistant director of Camp War Eagle, said she doesn’t think the construction will be in the way. She said even though it has affected some things, they just had to make easy adjustments to tour routes. She also said it takes them planning and knowing ahead of time to work things out before session one starts during the summer and that they will make things work for all of the students and parents visiting.
“There are a lot of different things going on, but we’ve had meetings for each project,” said Mark Armstrong, director of CWE. “It is helpful to have the information ahead of time about what’s going on. It gives us the chance to adjust what we want to do and make sure we achieve what we want to achieve.”
Both Dunn and Armstrong said progress is never in the way. They also said everything is around the corner and they’re excited to welcome the freshmen and parents.
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