THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 24, 1996 TAG: 9603240059
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Short : 35 lines
Virginia Commonwealth University's new engineering school will be nearly three times as large and twice as expensive as originally projected, university officials said.
The expansion will require the demolition this summer of a warehouse, now occupied by VCU's crafts programs. The brick building was scheduled to be renovated and expanded to become VCU's Fine Arts Center.
``This whole block will be for the school of engineering,'' VCU President Eugene P. Trani said Thursday at the site, where ground will be broken this summer for the $40 million project. ``With this school, VCU will play a more important role in the training of Virginia's work force.''
That means relocation of some of VCU's arts programs. Plans disclosed Thursday call for constructing a $15.7 million fine arts building on a site to be determined.
Some arts programs will have to be moved temporarily until the new fine arts building opens in 1999, officials said.
The state gave VCU approval in late 1994 for one $20 million building. VCU announced Thursday that the engineering complex eventually will include four major structures, the first two of which are to open in the spring of 1998.
VCU will enroll its first engineering class of 50 to 100 freshmen this fall. The engineering school eventually will enroll about 500 undergraduates. by CNB