“We have some plans for Mitchell, there’s no doubt. The north wing of Mitchell is to be renovated, basically. There hasn’t been a consultant hired, it’s just in our planning document.”
– Claude Schuttey, director of Planning and Construction

Last year chain-link fences surrounded several areas of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus and construction work could be heard from the classroom.

Now, the banging, clanging and general ruckus has, for the most part, come to an end, though there are a few more construction projects in the works.

Director of Planning and Construction Claude Schuttey said the Lapham Hall addition will be ready for use this semester and renovation projects are in the early planning stages for Mitchell Hall and the Arts Building.

These renovation projects have a tentative start date between 2009 and 2011.

“We have some plans for Mitchell, there’s no doubt,” Schuttey said. “The north wing of Mitchell is to be renovated, basically. There hasn’t been a consultant hired, it’s just in our planning document.”

While the addition to Lapham Hall has added actual space, the planned Mitchell Hall and Arts Building projects are not space-adding or cosmetic in nature.

“Strictly facilities remodeling — utilities, new wiring, new plumbing, bathrooms,” Schuttey said. “Again, it’s just a request document. We do not have anybody hired as of yet to do the design or construction.”

Although many current students will have graduated and left by the time renovation starts on either building, future students and teachers may find themselves inconvenienced. Schuttey said several classrooms could be out of service.

“We will be looking at rescheduling at other locations on campus,” Schuttey said.

Money-wise, no modest amount has been spent on these or other campus improvements, the most expensive being the recent Klotsche Center and Pavilion project, which was a $40 million project, Schuttey said.

The cost of the Lapham Hall addition is $12.5 million, and projected expenditures for Mitchell Hall and the Arts Building are $8.8 million and $7.5 million, respectively.

The Lapham Hall project alone has added classrooms and research areas. A chain-link fence is still standing in front of the building, but nothing blocks the view of the exterior of the addition, which is on the north side of the building. It matches the rest of Lapham Hall with its orange brick, concrete ribbing and large, tinted windows.

The sidewalk outside the building has been open to pedestrians for some time, eliminating the danger of walking in the street to avoid construction zones.

“(The construction) never inconvenienced me at all,” said Geosciences Associate Lecturer Robert Hackenberg, who works in Lapham Hall. “I was never bothered by any workers or anything like that.”

Schuttey said once work begins, the renovations to Mitchell Hall and the Arts Building should not take extraordinarily long.

“A good year a piece,” he said.

> Comments