Tag: campus construction

Utility, safety improvements may affect your routes during the next few weeks

It may be a little challenging navigating the Clemson University campus in the next few weeks because of utility and safety improvement projects.

Road closings may affect how you travel to graduation or basketball games, so check the closing schedule below and Facilities’ interactive road work map.

Fort Hill Street

Traffic on Fort Hill Street will be limited to one way going east from Klugh Avenue to Calhoun Drive from Saturday, Dec. 14, to Dec. 30.

From Dec. 30 to Jan. 1, Fort Hill Street will be completely closed to traffic from the Trustee House to Calhoun Drive.

Cherry Road

Cherry Road from Bryan Circle to McMillan Road is closed now through Dec. 23 for the installation of underground utilities.

The final phase of the project will begin in mid-December and will require the complete closing of the intersection of Cherry Road at Bryan Circle through early January. No traffic will be permitted through the intersection. Traffic will be able to reach Calhoun Courts from the east via Morrison Road.

Perimeter Road

Perimeter Road will be closed between Cherry Road and the entrance to the C-01 parking lot from Dec. 14 through Jan. 7 for the installation of underground utilities.

Walter T. Cox Boulevard (Highway 93)

Construction on Walter T. Cox Boulevard from mid-December until early January will cause some disruptions near Sikes Hall and Calhoun Drive. The three-phase project will begin with the southbound lanes being closed and two-way traffic in the northbound lanes. There will be no access to Calhoun Drive at this time.

Phase 2, beginning at the end of December, will shift to the middle lanes. Southbound vehicles will be able to enter Calhoun Drive and vehicles leaving Calhoun will be able to turn right.

Phase 3 will be in early January. The northbound lanes will be closed and southbound lanes will be open for two-way traffic. Vehicles exiting Calhoun Drive will have to turn right until the project is finished.

Hunter Hall sidewalk

The sidewalk to Hunter Hall and the auditorium will be closed for repairs from Dec. 17 through Jan. 10 for pedestrian safety improvements.

Calhoun Drive access

New gates installed on Calhoun Drive will prevent traffic access between Fort Hill Street and Gantt Circle in front of Brackett Hall except to approved vehicles beginning with the spring semester in January.

The gates were installed to reduce the volume of traffic in the heavily congested area and to improve pedestrian safety.

Approved vehicles, such as Tiger Transit buses, emergency vehicles and delivery trucks will carry transmitters that signal the gates to open.

Construction will close Calhoun Drive from Fort Hill Street to Gantt Circle for as long as two weeks beginning Monday, Nov. 11.

Crews will be working on pedestrian safety and other improvements on the street. Vehicles will not be able to travel on that section of the road and 13 street parking spots will not be available during the project.

Construction is projected to end Nov. 22, but weather could delay it.

Stay abreast of construction closings with Facilities’ online interactive map.

By Jackie Todd, Office of Media Relations

In the construction world, a topping out ceremony celebrates a milestone in the progress of an ongoing project. The event involves placement of a final structural beam in a building and the raising of a live tree to the top of the building to mark that achievement.

While Clemson’s Douthit Hills project involves multiple structures – eight to be exact, officials celebrated the project’s milestone not with a tree, but with an appreciation luncheon for staff and contractors earlier this month. More than 700 people attended the event.

Project manager Mike Parker is excited about the scale of the $212 million project, its progress and what it means for Clemson.

“When it’s all completed, we’re going to be able to offer 1,700 beds to students in seven buildings,” he said. “The eighth building is the hub – the structure that supports all that.”

According to Parker, the hub will house a bookstore, a police substation, a dining hall and other dining experiences. He also said the structure would offer a workout facility similar to Fike Recreation Center. He jokingly called it “Fike East.”

Parker said that Douthit Hills is among the largest projects that the state has ever undertaken. Along with the state-of the-art housing, dining and workout facilities, the new structures represent something even more.

“Academic GPA and retention is increased when students live on campus,” he explained. Bringing students to campus in a more nurtured learning and structured environment can only be good for them.

Vince Burdette is happy with the progress of the construction project. As the general superintendent for Holder Construction, it’s Burdette’s job to keep the project moving on time.

“We’re peaking manpower-wise,” he said. “We’re running at high speed and peak efficiency.” Burdette credits the use of precast concrete in helping speed up the process. Precast concrete is made from reusable molds and is poured and cured offsite. While the product quality and cost is the same, precast products help speed building time and offer cleaner surfaces, which are easier to work with.

Burdette also credits the use of workers and local subcontractors, who he said are loyal to Clemson.

Two of those loyal to the university are Drew Turner and Tony Greene. The pair have reason to be very interested in this project – they are Clemson alumni.

Both men graduated from the university in 2008 with degrees in construction science management (CSM). They even completed their CSM senior project together.

When the opportunity arose for them to come back to their alma mater, they wasted no time.

“It was fantastic,” said Turner. “It was extremely exciting as the project was getting started up. I thought there was the potential to come out and be a part of this. Not only are you having the opportunity to start a new project for the company your work for, but also for your alma mater, so there’s an extra sense of pride in coming to work every day and being a part of this.”

For Turner and Greene, this opportunity offers a chance to become part of Clemson’s history.

“I was so excited,” Greene explained. “I got a phone call saying a job popped up at Clemson. We hadn’t worked together since 2008. Although my hometown is in Georgia, I spent most of my time here at Clemson, so I was ecstatic at the thought of coming back here to work. I’ll be able to drive by for years to come and tell my kids that I got to build these dorms for Clemson.”

The Douthit Hills project is slated to be complete in fall 2018.

By Jackie Todd, Office of Media Relations

Faculty, staff, students and visitors who come to Clemson this summer will see the future being built right before their eyes.

Meanwhile, progress doesn’t come without a little inconvenience. To accommodate the work being done and for the safety of those on campus, Clemson will temporarily close some roads, divert traffic and relocate some parking spots. (Note: Deep breaths, it will all be ok, really.)

Take a look at some of the upgrades that will improve Clemson’s main campus:

Northwest campus

• A chiller plant will be constructed along Highway 93, which will add plant capacity for planned future growth on the west sector of campus and will mitigate risks associated with outages due to an aging central utility infrastructure. The new energy plant will also provide supplemental capacity for central campus growth estimated at more than 450,000 square feet including essential facilities such as the Core Campus housing development, the Watt Family Innovation Center, the Freeman Hall addition as well as new athletic facilities.
• Kingsmore Stadium renovations continue and are almost complete.
• WestZone and Stadium Suites upgrades will continue throughout the summer.
• To support renovations to Littlejohn Coliseum, the Avenue of Champions (from Perimeter Rd. to Centennial Blvd.) will shut down until August 19.

Northeast campus

• Core Campus construction continues. Read more about Core Campus.
• Workers will improve Riggs Field with the installation of a new vertical drainage system along with new turf.
• Douthit Hills construction will ramp up this week. Read more about Douthit Hills.
• Parkway Drive will close until June 1 as workers repave the street. Faculty and staff will be able to park in 45 additional spaces, which are now available on Daniel Drive (behind Clemson House) and 60 temporary employee parking spaces at Calhoun Courts (off of S.C. Highway 93 across from the President’s House).
• Plans for a satellite parking lot are underway. The lot will be built near the intersection of S.C. Highway 93 and Highway 76. The lot will be accessible through Highway 76 and is expected to offer 200 additional employee spaces.

Southeast campus

• Work on the Watt Family Innovation Center and Freeman Hall expansion  projects are ongoing.
• The brick plaza under the Library Bridge will be closed so that workers can replace the brick pavers.
• Lightsey Bridge Apartments will undergo upgrades and renovations.
• A new roof will be installed at the Brooks Center and the Fluor Daniel building.
• The picnic tables in the front of the Hendrix Student Center will be removed to allow better access to the building. Workers will build an outdoor plaza on the Southwest Corner of Hendrix. The new area will include 60 tables and chairs.

Work continues throughout campus on various repairs on the aging electrical infrastructure. To support these changes, the main campus will have brief, localized power outages and some traffic detours as workers dig “duct banks” (essentially a big hole in the street) to install and replace underground utilities and wiring.

This work precedes a five-year $75M electrical distribution system upgrade project that will begin next year.

“We want to construct a state-of-the-art electrical system that can auto switch power to minimize the impact of localized outages ” said Clemson’s Chief Facilities Officer Bob Wells. “It’s short-term pain for a lot of gain.”

Resources

Click here to access a PowerPoint that gives information on summer projects at Clemson’s main campus.

The facilities department maintains a calendar that lists road closures, outages and other construction disruptions. Access that calendar here or visit the facilities department Web page.

For up-to-date information about parking or transportation changes, visit the Parking and Transportation Services Web page and follow @Clemson_parking on Twitter.

Visit the Building Futures Web page for information on the university’s capital projects.

By Anna Simon, Office of Media Relations

As social change in the 1950s and ’60s transformed Clemson College into a university for all students across South Carolina and the world, a surge of campus construction provided modern classrooms, housing and amenities of that era and set the stage for Clemson University to become the respected research institution it is today.

Brackett, Lee I, Newman and Earle halls, Poole Agricultural Center, the President’s House, Harcombe Dining Hall and Thornhill Village are a sampling from a long list of projects that added more than 844,000 square feet of facilities to the campus during the 1950s – more square footage than all of the current campus buildings constructed prior to that time, starting with Fort Hill.

Looking back 50 years, Manning, Lever and Daniel halls, Strode Tower, Schilletter Dining Hall, Redfern Health Center, Littlejohn Coliseum and Rhodes Engineering Research Center were among 26 projects completed between 1965 and 1970. Now Clemson looks ahead to a new wave of construction to prepare for the next 50 years.

Next week, work will begin on the Douthit Hills project, a $212 million residential village—one of the largest residential projects in the university’s history. Douthit Hills, to be built along Hwy. 93, will dramatically enhance one of the main gateways to campus and provide much-needed housing for the university’s upper classmen and Bridge to Clemson students. Additionally, the complex will offer dining and mixed-use facilities for the Clemson community.

To make way for the state-of-the-art complex, the university is working closely with a certified arborist to identify and assess the trees that will be removed from the site. When the project is completed in 2018, many new trees will be planted; ultimately resulting in more trees than were removed and greater species diversity.

A nearly complete addition to Freeman Hall, home of the Industrial Engineering Department, will open this fall, along with WestZone Phase 3 and suite improvements in Memorial Stadium and an addition to the Doug Kingsmore Baseball Stadium.

Next year will see completion of the Watt Family Innovation Center and Core Campus development. The $30 million Watt Family Innovation Center, a four-story 70,000-square-foot innovation incubator made possible in part by a gift from the Watt family of Kennesaw, Ga., will connect students, industry partners and state-of-the-art information technology to take ideas from concept to marketplace. The $96 million Core Campus project, behind the Edgar A. Brown University Union, includes student housing, dining facilities and the new home of the Calhoun Honors College.

Work starts this summer on a Littlejohn Coliseum renovation and addition to open for the 2016-17 basketball season, and a $212 million residential village and central hub at Douthit Hills to house upperclassmen as well as freshmen in the Bridge to Clemson program beginning in the fall of 2018.

Campus visitors often ask what’s inside the Sheep Barn. This historic turn-of-the-century agricultural relic outlived its original use long ago. In December 2016 it will reopen as the Barnes Center, another new amenity made possible by a generous gift from the Barnes family in honor of Frank S. Barnes Jr. of Rock Hill.

A west campus energy plant to add capacity and mitigate outage risk and an Advanced Technological Education Center that includes a workforce development center, both in planning and design, also will open during 2016.

Perhaps the most dramatic future project is a new home for Clemson’s College of Business and Behavioral Science. A majestic glass entrance to this new home of Clemson’s second largest college will look out on Bowman Field from across Highway 93, in front of the alumni and visitor center. Bobby McCormick, interim dean of the College of Business and Behavioral Science, describes the planned academic building as “a home for these students, not just a place to go to class.” It will be “part of a corporate culture” where coming to class will be akin to going to the office, McCormick says. Architects’ renderings show a large ground-floor atrium with a coffee shop and illuminated stock market ticker data running along the walls.

These are some of the coming attractions that will transform the Clemson campus in the next few years. Other plans include electrical infrastructure upgrades, a football operations facility, an outdoor wellness and fitness center, a child care center and renovations of Vickery Hall and Lightsey Bridge I. Plans further down the road include Mauldin and Daniel hall renovations, a tennis center, a wastewater treatment plant upgrade and demolition of 1950s-era Johnstone and Harcombe hall.

Construction fences will come and go across the campus like curtains on a stage, each lifting to reveal another piece of Clemson’s next act. Please pardon our progress. The reward will far outweigh the temporary inconvenience. Clemson is building for the future, to serve 21^st century students and offer greater opportunities for all South Carolinians.

Clemson has created a website that provides more information about the revitalization of its main campus. Learn more here.

By Jackie Todd, Office of Media Relations

The Watt Family Innovation Center reached a construction milestone when the final exterior steel beam was installed in a “topping out” ceremony on Feb. 19.

In keeping with tradition, a steel beam that completes the building frame was hoisted hundreds of feet into the air. As the beam made its ascent toward the blue sky, three flags unfurled. The American flag, a fixture in most construction sites, was joined by a banner bearing the Clemson University paw print and a banner from Turner, the construction company that was engaged to erect the four-story, 70,000-square-foot building.

Catching a ride on the steel beam was a small evergreen tree, courtesy of the South Carolina Botanical Garden. The tree will be planted on the grounds of Botanical Gardens at a later date. No one knows for certain the origin of including a tree in a topping out ceremony. But Turner Construction’s project engineer, Allison Ford, shared that the tradition was thought to have come from either Native Americans who believed that nothing should ever be taller than nature, or ancient Scandinavia where home builders used a tree or greenery to celebrate the setting of the final highest wood beam.

Regardless of the tradition, Ford, a former civil engineering student who graduated from Clemson in 2008, was excited about the event and the building.

“It’s just going to be a very innovative space,” she explained. “Architecturally it’s going to stand out and set the stage for projects to come on campus in the future. With it being a research and technology-focused center, it’s going to take Clemson into the next generation in terms of research and technology and innovation.”

Dr. Charles Watt, whose family pledged $5.25 million toward the center, was equally excited. And he gave high praise to those who made it possible for the construction to reach this milestone.

“To all you workers: you’ve done a phenomenal job,” he said. “You can know that what you’re doing is going to last a long, long time and make a fundamental change to higher education and the world we live in. This is the first building in America, and maybe even the world, to have the capabilities this building has.

As part of the topping out ceremony, Turner Construction Company presented a $5,000 check to Safe Harbor, a nonprofit organization that assists victims of domestic violence. Company officials indicated donations to local charities are considered tradition with every construction project.

Now that the Watt Family Innovation Center’s exterior frame is complete, workers will begin construction on the building’s exterior walls. The project is expected to be complete in spring 2016.

• View event photos here.
• Learn more about the Watt Family Innovation Center.

By Jackie Todd, Office of Media Relations

Clemson’s skyline will change in a few weeks. The 200,000-gallon water tower that stands next to Clemson House at S.C. 93 and U.S. 123 will be dismantled beginning this week.

Built in 1950, the 155-foot structure, according to the university’s Housing and Dining Services department, will take about two to three weeks to be completely removed.

“The design of the water tower is now obsolete, so we won’t be able to relocate the original tower,” said James Bonney, University Housing & Dining’s associate director of residential facilities – projects. “The tower will be recycled and a new one-million gallon water tower will be built on Kite Hill.”

Bonney said that because there are other water towers on campus—including an existing water tank at Kite Hill– the removal of the structure next to Clemson House will have little impact to the water supply. In fact, the Kite Hill tank was upgraded in 2013 to increase water capacity in anticipation of the removal of the Clemson House water tower.

“The current water tower situation in the area has redundancy and that the loss of this water tower will only minimally impact storage capacity, and will have no impact on water pressure,” he explained.

The removal of the tower comes in support of the Douthit Hills construction, which began in mid-December. When complete, the Douthit Hills project will offer approximately 1,730 new student beds and a mixed retail and student-amenities facility at its center.

Judy Tribble has hundreds of photos of the water tower. A 30-year veteran of Clemson, Tribble works in the Clemson House as a data coordinator for the university’s Housing and Dining Services department. And she has made a hobby of taking photos of the structure when she comes to work.

“I love the way the morning sun reflects off the bottom of the tower—it makes some really good shots,” said Tribble. “When I found out that the tower was coming down, I posted some of the photos on my Facebook.”

While Tribble will miss the tower, she understands why it has to be removed.

“I think it’ll be fine as long as it is reused,” she said. “Just as long as they replace it somewhere it’ll be good.”

Bidding for the new water tower at Kite Hill will begin in March. The Facilities Department reports that site construction for the new tower will begin later this year and is projected to be complete sometime in the summer of 2016.

By Jackie Todd, Office of Media Relations

Fort Hill Street to reopen this week

It’s about to get a little easier to travel through the heart of Clemson’s main campus. Fort Hill Street, which closed Oct. 26 to accommodate Core Campus construction, will reopen on Nov. 21, according to James Bonney, associate director of residential facilities–projects.

“We tried to make this closure as painless as possible for faculty, staff, students and visitors,” said Bonney. “But we do know that construction – particularly in the middle of campus – is disruptive. So, we want to thank everyone for their patience.”

Pedestrians will be able to use the sidewalk south of Fort Hill Street adjacent to Stadium Suites and the Shoeboxes. However, the sidewalk bordering the Core Campus construction site will remain closed until the end of the year. Detour signage in that area will remain in place.

Additionally, the barricade on Calhoun Street at Brackett Hall that was lifted to allow two-way traffic on that street will be back in place. Calhoun Street – from Route 93 to Fort Hill Street – will revert back to a one-way thoroughfare.

For questions, contact James Bonney at jbonney@clemson.edu.

Centennial Boulevard and Press Road to close Dec. 1

Portions of Centennial Boulevard and Press Road will be closed to vehicular and pedestrian traffic beginning Dec. 1 to accommodate Memorial Stadium West End Zone renovations. Centennial Boulevard will be closed from the intersection of Press Road to the entrance of the CU police station. Press Road will be open for parking, but parking will be restricted. The work is scheduled to be completed August 2015. Detour signage will direct traffic to alternate routes.

Potential hazards include construction vehicles, overhead crane work, noise and dust.  For questions or more information, please Sam X. Zanca at 864-656-4270 or szanca@clemson.edu.

By Jackie Todd, office of Media Relations

Clemson’s main campus is about to get much-needed improvements. Clemson’s Board of Trustees, the South Carolina Budget and Control Board and other entities recently approved the university’s Core Campus project.

To be located adjacent to the Johnstone complex in the heart of Clemson’s main campus, the $96 million Core Campus project will feature a 260,000-square-foot mixed-use facility that will include student housing and dining facilities. The facility will offer approximately 700 beds in the residential portion of the project, add a 1,000-seat dining hall and retail dining options to replace the aging Harcombe facility and administrative support spaces. The complex will also include approximately 5,000 feet of space dedicated to seminar and meeting areas for faculty and students.

Clemson students, who recently conducted a Social Media campaign under the #ClemsonNeeds hashtag are excited about the project.

“Clemson students have needed these new housing developments for many years now,” said student body President Kayley Seawright. “Facilities play an integral role in not only campus life but also in recruitment. If we want to continue to bring the best students to the state of South Carolina, we need the state support to invest in these competitive facilities.”

What this means for Clemson

University data indicates that Clemson students who live on campus for the first two years have significantly higher GPAs and graduation rates.

This project is part of Clemson’s 20-year Housing Master Plan, which uses a variety of ways to address the university’s housing strategy. The plan calls for new construction to replace older buildings that have large deferred maintenance needs, but are functionally obsolete for today’s college student, or financially obsolete due to its value, cost to renovate and replacement value. Core Campus is in part replacement housing for the remaining section of Johnstone Hall, which was built in 1955.

Doug Hallenbeck, associate vice president for Student Affairs and executive director of University Housing and Dining, maintains that the new facility will invigorate the center of campus.

“Core Campus is the first step in revitalizing the Clemson campus experience. This will be a dynamic housing and dining community that will transform the core of campus into a dynamic hub of activity not only for the students that live there, but also for all the Clemson family.”

Hallenbeck also contends that updated facilities will contribute to student recruitment. Market survey data indicates that there is a decline in the percentage of students who live on campus. Additionally, students who went elsewhere to college listed housing as a reason why they did not choose Clemson.

“When students come to campus to visit as they are making their decision on where to go to school, our facilities have to be able to compete with other schools,” he said. “New housing and dining facilities put us in a position to compete for the best and brightest students. The quality of campus facilities is an indicator on the value the institution puts on the quality of the experience and education.”

Construction on the project is expected to begin this summer.