As part of the planned investment of approximately $450 million since 2003, DU continues the renovation of the campus, with the recent opening of the Hotel, Restaurant, and Tourism Management building and a new residence hall in the works.
Since 1997, 13 new residence and administrative buildings have opened.
The most recent include not only the HRTM building, which opened in Dec., but also the Kappa Sigma fraternity house and the Rebecca T. and James P. Craig Hall for the Graduate School of Social Work, which opened in the fall.
The most visible of all the construction is the current renovation of Carnegie Green, the area in-between the business school and the HRTM building.
Currently, the majority of the infrastructure is in place, including steam lines and storm water lines.
According to Warren Smith, public relations manager of news and public affairs, “Current work focuses on installing light poles, brick walkways and the granite facade of the circular retaining wall.”
The green is projected to be completed in the spring, and will “feature several new specimen trees. In addition, the garden area defined by the circular retaining wall will make a beautiful starting point for campus tours,” said Smith.
In addition to construction of the Carnegie Green, Columbine Hall, the old HRTM building on High Street and Evans Avenue, is presently being demolished in order to build a new parking structure.
The building should be torn down in about four weeks, at which time construction will begin, and the parking structure is slated to be completed in April.
When completed, it will house up to 590 vehicles as well as the Campus Safety and Parking offices.
The most farreaching project in the works currently is the conception of a new residence hall.
Nagel Hall will be next to Nelson Hall, replacing the Skyline Hall site.
The new dorm Hall is being constructed specifally for the use of upperclass undergraduate students.
In an effort to be environmentally and financially conscious, planners of the hall are considering using a geothermal field to heat the building.
Smith said, “The proposed plan would involve drilling 125 wells, which could reduce the building’s fossil fuel consumption by 25-30 percent.”
These wells use advanced technology to drill into the soil and use the heat from the earth to circulate throughout the building, thus heating without consuming fossil fuels.
However, Smith also said that “it’s still not clear whether or not the proposal is feasible, because air conditioning the building would require including a cooling tower in the design. One of the things that makes a system like this attractive is that it would reduce the size of the building because there’s less heating and cooling equipment.”
Although it is only in the design phase, supervised by University Architect Mark Rodgers, construction of Nagel Hall is anticipated to begin in January of next year, with occupancy scheduled for the fall of 2008.
