Campus Construction Update, November 4, 2019

Associate Vice Chancellor for Finance and Operations Matt Dull shares updates concerning construction projects on the west side of Appalachian's campus, including details on the construction progress for two new residence halls — buildings 100 and 200 — as well as an update on demolition plans for Justice Hall.

Transcript

Dave Blanks: Hey, Matt Dull.

Matt Dull: Hey.

Dave Blanks: It's another Campus Construction Update. I'm Dave Blanks and yeah, I went out of order, but here's Matt. Hey, Matt.

Matt Dull: Hey, how are you, Dave?

Dave Blanks: I'm good. It's good to see you again. Thanks for coming by. The weather has not been ideal, right?

Matt Dull: It's not been ideal the past week or so. Last week ended with quite a bit of rain. It rained through the Halloween and Halloween game and just a nasty couple of days last week, but construction's moving forward. Hoping for a better week this week as we go into the first week of November.

Dave Blanks: I can't believe it's November already; this year seems to have flown by. I don't know if it feels that way for you?

Matt Dull: It really does.

Dave Blanks: Does it feel like it's going fast?

Matt Dull: It does feel like it's gone fast.

Dave Blanks: Do you want to start with Building 100?

Matt Dull: Sure.

Dave Blanks: As is our tradition.

Matt Dull: Yeah. If you remember Building 100 is ... We're splitting that, construction-wise, into three different sections. We have a lower section, that's the section closest to Trivette; a middle section, that's the section that's really parallel to Stadium Drive; and then an upper section, which is parallel to Jack Branch.

Matt Dull: So, I guess let's start with the lower section. The part that's closest to Trivette. We've got roof framing finished up. We finished that work. We're now into doing the Tyvec wrap around that section and all the flashing, all that's starting this week and, again, trying to work towards getting all of these buildings dried in for winter. We've got window frame installation happening in that section as well this week, along with some of our door frame installations. Also doing that continual plumbing and electrical, mechanical rough-ins. The roof install will actually start this week as well. So the actual roof membrane that goes on those roof trusses starts this week as well.

Matt Dull: We move up to that middle section. We're continuing to do the framing work for the middle section, got those three sections and the middle section is the last section that we're working on. So the middle section was planned to be the third phase, if you will, for doing construction on Building 100, and so we're continuing to frame out level three, four and five this week, as well as installing the exterior sheeting this week, as well, to that middle section. So it's coming along nicely. Again, even with that section, still trying to progress so that when we get into the heart of winter, we've got a dried-in building. So we can continue that interior work.

Dave Blanks: Got you. And what of the third ...

Matt Dull: Section?

Dave Blanks: Section. OK, what of the third section?

Matt Dull: So, that upper section, we've got a window installation that will continue this week. So actually popping those windows into the window frames. Those will be delivered and installed this week for that section.

Matt Dull: And then we've already started the exterior brick and precast stonework. That's in progress as well. So the section of the building closest to Jack Branch, or that elevation or the wall closest to Jack Branch of that building, is already well on its way to having that final exterior brick veneer and precast stone veneer applied to the building. So, you can actually really start to see what that exterior of the building is going to look like once it's all finished up. So ...

Dave Blanks: Yeah, it looks great. What about 200, Matt?

Matt Dull: So Building 200, the roof installation is complete on Building 200, so precast stone and brick masonry work is also in progress on Building 200. So, similar to that upper section of Building 100. About a quarter of the building is complete and this work will continue through the month of November. So trying to get all of that precast stone and brick work done while you at least have some nice warmer days mixed in.

Dave Blanks: Here and there.

Matt Dull: Here and there, as we finish out the calendar year. Windows, installation is progressing, so we'll continue that into this week. Storefront window systems will be put in place in the next week to two weeks, so —

Dave Blanks: What is that? Storefront windows?

Matt Dull: In our vestibule areas, the lobby areas of the building, we have a much larger system that's going in that is more of those floor-to-ceiling-type windows that bring in a lot of light. So when you're looking at the building, you know where to gravitate towards. So when we think about when we get to a lot of our buildings on campus, we have these storefront structures, if you call ... it looks like a storefront, where you've got a little more than just this one little single door to ... so your eye gets directed to that central part of the building. It also brings in a lot of natural light into those big common areas.

Matt Dull: Those storefront systems will begin arriving and start installing in the next couple of weeks as well. And that'll really help finish out that exterior building envelope to really get a dried-in building once those systems go in. Finishing up our plumbing and mechanical rough-is this week. Electrical rough-in is also continuing through the month of November. Door frames are going in throughout the building, so all those little important steps that you've got to do before you start putting in insulation, before you start hanging drywall and doing all those kind of more finishing-type things. So, things are progressing nicely in Building 200, following schedule and we're excited to have that building ready for us in the summer.

Dave Blanks: Sweet. Matt, any other news? Actually, I think you had an update on Justice.

Matt Dull: Yeah, so Justice, if you remember, we're getting ready to start phase two and part of phase two is really helping to prepare for phase three. In phase three, we will build Building 400, which is on the current site of Justice Hall, which means before we can put something there, we actually have to take Justice Hall down. As part of that process, we started this summer, the process of getting all of the approvals to demolish Justice. We've now received approval from our local Board of Trustees at Appalachian, the UNC System has approved that through its Board of Governors. We also received approval from the Council of State, which is basically the governors' cabinet. They actually approve the disposition of all kind of large state buildings, assets, state property. All three of those entities have now approved the demolition of Justice Hall. So we're now in the planning phase for how do you actually demolish the building and do it safely.

Matt Dull: Work will actually begin in late summer 2020 and take the building down, and continue through the fall semester, really to prepare that site for Building 400, which will begin in February of 2021. So already having to think multiple phases ahead.

Dave Blanks: [crosstalk 00:05:57] That far ahead, right.

Matt Dull: So that we can have a clean building site for that last phase.

Dave Blanks: So when are the last students that live in Justice going to move out?

Matt Dull: So when —

Dave Blanks: That's a kind of a weird question, right?

Matt Dull: Yes.

Dave Blanks: I mean there're students in it right now, right?

Matt Dull: There are students in it right now. These are the last students to live in Justice Hall.

Dave Blanks: OK, all right. So these will be the last.

Matt Dull: So when they move out in May, we will be moving out furniture and getting up the university property that we're not going to demolish and we're going to reuse in other places. And then that site will be turned over to a demolition company to dismantle the building and salvage what's salvageable, and demolish the rest and haul it off. And then get us that clean site for Building 400.

Matt Dull: Lots will be happening on that site in really just a few short months. It sounds like forever to say June of 2020, but we're really just —

Dave Blanks: Yeah, it's not that far.

Matt Dull: About seven, eight months away from demolition starting.

Dave Blanks: Well, so Matt, we talk about construction so often, and I know that the schedule is on the future site, but if people want to know when this construction, this side of campus' construction, is going to be completed, when is that? I mean, we really haven't said that in a while. When does everything have a nice pretty bow wrapped around it?

Matt Dull: Yeah. Then the nice pretty bow is tied up for the fall of 2022, and so, when we think about all of the buildings finished, all of the green spaces and sidewalks and parking spaces and everything nice and new, and that new condition will be fall of 2022. Obviously, as you go along, the parking deck is done, the infrastructure around that parking deck is wrapped up and cleaned up, and it's in its final state.

Matt Dull: The goal is to hopefully be able to move totally off of the, I guess it's the west side of Stadium Drive before we actually start building Building 400 on the east side of Stadium Drive. That way we're not having construction in both areas [crosstalk 00:07:54] and both sides of the road. Really want to try to limit that as much as possible. So that's the goal. We're trying to work the schedule now to be able to do that. So we're in progress of trying to do that. But that's the hope, is that we can vacate the construction activities on the west side, completely relocate those only to the east side of Stadium Drive. Basically by fall of 2021, all that west side of Stadium Drive will be totally finished. And again, trying to think about the least amount of disruption for students and visitors and people coming to campus that you don't have all of these active construction sites everywhere. Try to minimize that as much as possible.

Dave Blanks: Hey, how's the cistern?

Matt Dull: Hey, good question actually, it just finished up last week, so —

Dave Blanks: Thank goodness because ... we got some rain now.

Matt Dull: We got a little rain, but this —

Dave Blanks: So is actually functional now? I mean is it —

Matt Dull: Not yet.

Dave Blanks: Oh, right.

Matt Dull: Well we'll get ready to tie it in here a little bit, but it's not quite functional. But it really is a part of phase two but it was really necessary for us to build now before we actually start doing the foundation work and that stuff for Building 300 in phase two.

Dave Blanks: Right. It needs to be there first.

Matt Dull: It needs to be there, it needs to be in place. So that also gives us some more laydown space for Building 300 and when we start that.

Dave Blanks: If you missed the last episode, when we were talking about the cistern, it's the zigzag of huge corrugated pipe that runs underneath this whole ... right?

Matt Dull: Not the entire space, but a good chunk of this space.

Dave Blanks: Large chunk of it.

Matt Dull: Is part of this underground cistern system.

Dave Blanks: [crosstalk 00:09:26] To slow down ...

Matt Dull: It's a stormwater retention system.

Dave Blanks: Right. To slow down the time it takes the water to get from up on the hill and down into Duck Pond, right?

Matt Dull: Right. Duck Pond's that first stormwater retention that we have now, [crosstalk 00:09:37] and that goes into Boone Creek or Kraut Creek.

Dave Blanks: Right, right, right, right.

Matt Dull: So again, it's to help slow down the stormwater that's coming down from that kind of 60-plus-acre bowl, that that side of campus sits in. Collect it in that cistern, and then slowly release it down into Duck Pond, which then releases into the creek.

Dave Blanks: Hey, Matt, any other updates for today?

Matt Dull: Those are the biggest updates for today. Continuing to work on designs for phase two, which we'll be excited to start sharing more details as we get closer to finishing up our design and starting construction in phase two with Building 300. So, making a lot of progress there, and we'll share some updates sometime soon.

Dave Blanks: Cool. Thanks for your time, Matt Dull. I appreciate you.

Matt Dull: Absolutely. Thanks so much.