Mell Street Classrooms
- This new building began construction in December 2015 with a $35 million budget and was completed last month. Attached to the front side of RBD Library and featuring massive glass fixtures to let in natural light, the Mell Classrooms will be used by students of several majors this fall. The 65-foot-tall ceilings in the center of the 107,000-square-foot facility sit over an open area that Provost Timothy Boosinger said will be “a big hub on campus” and “the place to be.” On either side of the 3 floors features two lecture halls, 40 group study rooms and 29 “active learning” classrooms. Those 36-student-classrooms will feature 10 wall-mounted monitors and completely mobile furniture that will allow professors to change the room to their needs. There will be food venues located in the new Mell building as well, but a spokesperson from Tiger Dining says the plans for that are still being made.
Nursing Building
- On South Donahue Street, in between campus and North College Street sits the new, 89,000-square-foot School of Nursing Facility. The construction on this project started in January of 2016 and was completed on July 12 followed by a months’ worth of furniture, fixture and equipment installation. It will be open August 21 for students pursuing their degree in nursing. The new facility will feature a tiered auditorium for class lectures and large conferences, “active learning” classrooms designed so that professors can arrange the space for their needs, a skills lab and simulation suite for students to test what they’ve learned, a student lounge, faculty offices and group meeting rooms. This facility is one of two buildings that are part of the University’s Health Sciences Sector.
Pharmaceutical Research Building
- Another building that will be a part of the University’s Health Sciences Sector will be the Pharmaceutical Research Building. Being built for the Harrison School of Pharmacy, the new facility is located on the corner of South Donahue and Lem Morrison Drive. Construction on the 37,431 square-foot-facility began last June with an approved budget of $16.6 million that was covered by donations and HSOP reserve funds. It was completed this May and features areas for pharmaceutical and interdisciplinary research labs over three floors, according to an HSOP writeup. “We are very excited and it is important to celebrate the Health Sciences Sector being created by Auburn University,” said HSOP Dean R. Lee Evans. “This positions the School to enhance its research capabilities within the School, within the campus, and in collaboration with VCOM.”
Evolve
- This July saw the completion of new apartments on West Glenn Avenue by Wright Street bearing the name “The Evolve Auburn Apartments.” The six-story apartment building sitting on 1.93 acres of land will house 456 residents in 126 units and had a budget of $32 million for construction. The development of Evolve was met with some controversy, however, as some people like the Auburn grassroots group “Keep Auburn Lovely” believed the 75-foot-tall building in the middle of downtown would hinder Auburn’s reputation as being the “loveliest village on the plains." "We do feel like Auburn has a heritage, and the village charm is a big part of that," said Susan Hunnicutt, public relations officer for Keep Auburn Lovely. CA Student Living led the construction of Evolve, and their president JJ Smith argues that the red brick façade of the building and its utility in the downtown area will allow the apartments to fit in, according to a previous Plainsman report.
Starbucks/Cookout Mall
- There will soon be a three-tenant building constructed in front of the Auburn Mall on Opelika Road that will house a Starbucks and two other undisclosed businesses, according to a report from the Auburn Villager. Also planned for the mall, on the corner of Opelika Road and East University Drive, is a CookOut Restaurant, the report said. There aren’t set dates for the construction of these buildings as of the report.
191 College Street Apartments
- This summer, Auburn City Council approved a resolution to change the development schedule of the upcoming 75-foot-tall, 456-bed-capacity 191 College Street student apartments. The original date of May 8 was moved back to June 12 and the corner of West Glenn Avenue and North College Street, the location of the now removed University Chevron Station, was blocked off for 24-hour work on the site until July 31. Brett Basquin, chief engineer of the Foresite Group, Inc., attributed the late start of construction in part to complications that arose from the behind-schedule construction of Evolve, difficulties with sparsely-documented and aging downtown sewage pipes and the poor soil quality of the prospective construction site, according to a previous report from The Plainsman.
In Progress
o Jordan-Hare Stadium Gameday Facility
o Leach Science Center Addition
o Gavin Engineering Research Laboatory
o Broun Hall Renovation
o Campus Safety Building Expansion
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o Hotel At Aubuen Renovation
o Poultry Science Research and Education Center
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