News
Student Life
Sports
Highlights
Perspectives
At-a-Glance
Campus Events
Police Report
Photo by Angela Mervar
Construction workers were busy making repairs to holes in the concrete structure of the plaza Friday afternoon.
Campus Whack-a-Mole? No, new plaza to come
By Angela Mervar
By Angela Mervar As the fall semester opened, the bleak new look of the University Center Plaza was a surprise for most students re-turning from spring semester.
Construction on the plaza began this summer and is about half done, according to Vice President for Business Affairs and Finance, Jack Boyle.
“The first half of the contract is complete, which was to remove existing materials. The second half, which is to patch holes, waterproof, and reconstruct, is beginning,” he said.
Everything except the planting is expected to be completed by the end of the fall semester. The planting will be done when warmer weather comes in the spring.
The plaza itself will remain fenced off and only become usable in the spring semester. However, the university is hoping to relieve students from walking all the way around the fencing to get to the UC.
“We will try to get some areas open sooner, such as the walkways from Rhodes Tower and the Main Classroom,” Boyle added.
The renovation of the plaza was essential to fix a leakage issue caused by the deterioration of the concrete structure, Boyle said.
There have been prior reports of leakage and/or damage to cars parking in the facility below according to John Oden, director of parking operations.
Once the university realized that the leakage problem needed immediate attention, a plan was made to remodel the plaza so it is more attractive and student-friendly.
The UC parking garage had to be closed during the construction, which has removed 66 handicapped and visitor parking spots, Oden said.
There have been no additional spots created except for a few new handicapped ones on the ground level of the University Parking Facility (UPF) garage.
Although the reconstruction is inconvenient, it was necessary. There was no other way to fix the plaza waterproofing issue than to redo it, Boyle said.
© 2004 The Cleveland Stater