Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 19, 1993 TAG: 9309170150
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KEVIN KITTREDGE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
Three major building projects are under way, and four more are scheduled.
By the end of the $27.5 building spree a few years from now, the university will have a new face for the 21st century - one more in keeping with its expanded size and mission, university administrators say.
Radford's enrollment has increased from 3,100 in 1972 to 9,400 this year.
But with the exception of Dalton Hall - which was completed two years ago, and houses food service and the university's bookstore and post office - no buildings have been added since 1973, said Physical Plant Director David Armstrong.
"We've been at capacity," Armstrong said. "We've needed these projects for quite some time."
Much of the new construction - $19 million - was funded by a bond issue passed by Virginia voters in November.
The university will still need a new academic building sometime in the future, said Charles Owens, Radford's vice president for academic affairs.
But, "It will certainly be an improvement," he said of the expansion. "We will be able to accommodate the students that we have, and the programs that we have."
The construction, which will stretch through at least next year, is an inconvenience at times, university officials concede. Some classes must be shuffled around as renovation work proceeds - and with Tyler Hall closed for the year, students who would have lived in the aged dormitory this year have had to be housed elsewhere, officials said.
To alleviate the temporary space crunch, some classes will meet in the former St. Jude Catholic Church, now owned by the university, Owens said.
Radford also has leased parking space from the First Christian Church at 400 Tyler Avenue during business hours, as construction has swallowed up existing parking spaces.
"Parking at Radford is not as bad as it is some places," Owens said. "But it is very tight. And it will get worse."
At McConnell library - which is undergoing a major expansion - virtually every book and piece of furniture has been moved at least once, said Linda Farynk, university librarian.
But it's worth it for a chance to spread out cramped seating arrangements and bring in library books currently stored off-site because of lack of space, Farynk said.
"We've been running out of space for some time," she said. "It will seem like it was well worth the wait and the noise."
Despite the chain-link fences, cranes, girders, pounding hammers and dust, life on campus goes on, officials say.
"It's something you tolerate, because you assume it will get better, and it will," Owens said of the commotion.
Two of the three projects - the Tyler Hall renovations and the library expansion - are being done by Branch & Associates of Roanoke.
The third, the university's new maintenance facility - currently a eye-catching iron gridwork near the railroad tracks - is the work of R.E. Lee and Sons of Charlottesville.
The number of employees at all of the work sites varies, but more than 100 have been employed at various times, according to Armstrong's office. "It has to have created a lot of jobs in this area," Armstrong said.
Construction of the university's new college, expected to enroll some 2,000 students eventually, should begin in 1994. According to current plans, students will live and study in the same location.
by CNB