Campus Construction Update, December 9, 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 three new residence halls — buildings 100, 200 and 300 — and who is responsible for naming the halls.
Transcript
Dave Blanks: All right. You ready?
Dave Blanks: What do you want to do today?
Matt Dull: Be outside.
Dave Blanks: Yeah.
Dave Blanks: Do you want to do a podcast, instead?
Matt Dull: I guess. I guess.
Dave Blanks: All right. that ishow we'll start this one. Hey folks, I'm Dave Blanks, from University Communications. And I'm here with Matt Dull, who longs to be outside but is trapped, instead, in the studio with me. Hey, Matt.
Matt Dull: Hey, how are you? It's a beautiful day outside. It's really tempting.
Dave Blanks: It is. It's crisp. Right? Would you say crisp?
Matt Dull: It's crisp. Yeah. It's probably upper 40s. But after the cold weather we've had for a few days, it feels great.
Dave Blanks: We'll take it.
Matt Dull: We'll take it.
Dave Blanks: It is very pretty outside.
Matt Dull: The wind's died down. It's a beautiful day.
Dave Blanks: Well, this won't take but a minute. Are there any updates you would like to share with us about campus construction, Matt Dull?
Matt Dull: Sure. We'll do a few updates. We've hadn't had a bunch of workdays since the last time we met because of the Thanksgiving holiday.
Dave Blanks: Right. So the construction took off for Thanksgiving?
Matt Dull: Yeah. So construction took off for a few days at Thanksgiving. It's just hard to get a full team of folks there over the holiday. It's good for folks to have a break. So, yeah. Construction was off for a few days at the Thanksgiving break. Started back again on Monday, last week. And it's been a decent week, weatherwise. Started the week with a little snow.
Dave Blanks: Yes.
Matt Dull: So a lot of the exterior work is a little slow going this week, just because of the colder weather at the beginning of the week. But it looks like we're getting into another week or two of some mild weather, which will let us do ... I guess rolling straight into the updates.
Dave Blanks: Sounds good. Sounds good.
Matt Dull: Thinking about both Building 100 and 200. Doing a lot of exterior work with the masonry, so doing brick and precast stone installation on both buildings. Hoping to finish up that precast stone and brick installation on Building 200 here in the next few weeks. So we're getting close to the end of that building. If folks have checked out the Future site, that's appstate.edu/future ...
Dave Blanks: Nice job. I was going to ask that.
Matt Dull: ... you can actually see some of that exterior brickwork is now exposed, the scaffolding is down, and you can actually see what that final look of that exterior of the building is going to be. So —
Dave Blanks: I'm going there now.
Matt Dull: All right. Sounds good.
Dave Blanks: Appstate.edu/future. Building physical infrastructure, right? [crosstalk 00:02:18]?
Matt Dull: That's correct.
Dave Blanks: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's the spot. And now I'm scrolling down to ... What? Say what you just said again? I know I have it recorded. But ...
Matt Dull: Oh, yeah. Yeah. All the exterior brickwork and precast stone, if you could look at the picture that's up there right now, I think he was taking on the third of December is the most up-to-date one, you can really look down Jack Branch Road and start seeing that classic Appalachian red brick coming out and all those green-trimmed windows finished up. So ...
Dave Blanks: I see it there.
Matt Dull: ... Hartford Green trim on the windows.
Dave Blanks: Certainly. I can't remember the brick.
Matt Dull: Old Guilford.
Dave Blanks: Dang it. Man. I should definitely have this memorized by now.
Matt Dull: It's all right.
Dave Blanks: But, yeah. I can see them.
Matt Dull: Yeah. So, things shaping up really nicely on that exterior of Building 200. And then we're now getting ready to really ramp up the ... Working on that masonry facade on Building 100, particularly that section that's closest to the stadium that you can see in that picture. That's that spot we're going to really start that masonry work and try to get that exterior finished up. You can see that Tyvek wrap on that entire section already done. Most of those windows are in. There's a few windows to put in some frames. But that top section closest to Jack Branch Road and Building 100 is getting ready to get that exterior facade put on.
Matt Dull: So, excited about having that coming along. This great weather coming up this week hopefully will help us keep moving on that section of brickwork.
Dave Blanks: What else do we got going on, Matt?
Matt Dull: Let's see. So we've got the center section of Building 100, the section that's parallel to Stadium Drive, coming up Stadium Drive? We are finishing out the framing of that section. So we've got all five stories, or all five levels, of the framing done on the courtyard side of that building. And we're finishing the top two levels now of the Stadium Drive side of that building. So we will top off that section of the building here as we enter into the winter holidays and into the New Year, get that topped off. And then start putting our roof trusses on and roof on as we get into 2020. So we can keep that going. So —
Dave Blanks: Yeah. The part on Jack Branch is already Tyveked.
Matt Dull: Yeah. Part on Jack Branch is already Tyveked. That's where we're getting that brickwork on. We've actually got the roof membrane on, already. So, that section right there is the farthest along of the three sections of Building 100. So it's looking really good, and going to keep continuing through the other two sections to get them to a similar point as we get into to early 2020.
Dave Blanks: It's looking great.
Matt Dull: Continue to do things like our Green Built inspection. So, if you remember from past podcasts that Green Built is our sustainable building evaluation measure that we're using and group. So our inspector for that's on-site on a regular basis, taking a look at the construction as it progresses. It's not just a one-time thing at the end of the project. It's something that they are inspecting throughout the project to make sure your insulation and other things as you go along are taken care of before it all gets covered up with drywall. So they're doing pretty consistent inspections on a fairly regular basis of the project, which is good. So we're excited about that and still on track to be certified through the Green Built Alliance.
Dave Blanks: North Carolina company, you said?
Matt Dull: That's a North Carolina group. That's right.
Dave Blanks: [crosstalk 00:05:53]. What else we got, Matt?
Matt Dull: Let's see. So, mentioned before, Building 100, really finishing up the framing work on that center section. And then the section that's closest to Trivette Hall, hoping to, in the next week or so, start installing Tyvek on that section. So, continuing to install Tyvek on that section, that's that exterior wrap. Installing window frames. So we installed those frames first and then pop in the actual window units. So, window frames will be ... starting to install this week. And just some other electrical, mechanical rough-in throughout the building is occurring as well. So, continuing to move along in, really, all three sections of the building. So —
Dave Blanks: How much longer on the electrical and mechanical and ...
Matt Dull: So —
Dave Blanks: Is the plumbing the last one, for the rough-in?
Matt Dull: Yes.
Dave Blanks: OK.
Matt Dull: So, plumbing rough-in and plumbing mains were the last section. Electrical and mechanical rough-in —
Dave Blanks: Wait. The previous section? Or the section that will come up after the electrical? [crosstalk 00:06:58] the last one?
Matt Dull: It was in a previous iteration.
Dave Blanks: It already happened. Already did that.
Matt Dull: [crosstalk 00:07:01]. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So now we're moving over to electrical, mechanical. Trying to get all of that roughed in so that we're able to start covering that up with insulation and drywall and drop ceilings and all that kind of stuff. You've got to really get everything in place before you start covering it up, here, so we can start doing more of the interior finish work.
Dave Blanks: Gotcha. Where do you want to go next, Matt?
Matt Dull: I guess we can just take a walk down Jack Branch.
Dave Blanks: Do you want to jump to —
Matt Dull: Want to go over to two hun —
Dave Blanks: Two hundred? Yeah. OK.
Matt Dull: Real quick?
Dave Blanks: To hundred. Sounds good.
Matt Dull: And two hun —
Dave Blanks: Hey, it looks nice out here. Two hundred. We're there.
Matt Dull: Walk with me.
Dave Blanks: Theater of the mind. You know?
Matt Dull: That's right. And Building 200's progressing nicely. We've got about 95% of the windows in the building. Really, the most part of what remains is really these kind of storefront windows systems, which are those larger window systems that are for your common lobby areas. We've got some study nooks in the corner of the buildings that will be fully encased in glass, which I think will be a really nice spot for students to think about studying. We'll have some nice casual furniture in there for small group study or individual study in each one of those. So, those kinds of rooms are being finished up now. So we're pretty close to finishing all of the windows.
Matt Dull: Of course the roof is done in that building, except for a decorative high roof that's going on that has that kind of classic green metal pitched roof that we've got across campus on our buildings. So, that is currently being installed. Other things are really trying to finish up everything to be able to start by the time we leave around the 19th or so of December, before we leave for holiday break on campus. Obviously, construction will keep going. Trying to get everything done so that we can start doing our last inspections before covering up and hanging drywall in Building 200. So, all of those little things that need to be done with the electrical, fire alarm, fire sprinkler systems, our mechanical rough-ins, all those kind of things finished up so that we can actually start covering everything up and really starting on more of the fine finish kind of work in the building.
Matt Dull: So, that we're hoping to be able, by the time we're leaving for Christmas break, that we're able to have those final inspections to start our cover-up.
Dave Blanks: That'll be here before you know it.
Matt Dull: And that'll be here before you know.
Dave Blanks: Yeah.
Matt Dull: Another week or so out.
Dave Blanks: What's the story with 300?
Matt Dull: So, 300, we talked a lot in the past. We're in that design phase of 300. So, design is continuing to progress. We've actually received our zoning permit from the town of Boone. So, that is done. And we have received approval for our building permit, as well, for Building 300. So we are in good shape to start constructing Building 300. The plan would be to start Building 300 on February the 12th, 2020. We've got financial close. When we financed this project, we financed it in three phases. We finished phase one, which was done in February 2019. And we'll do the financing for phase two in February of 2020.
Matt Dull: We are also busy. Just as you have to design the building and do all the construction documents that you're building off of, we're also in the process of doing all of the legal documents that are required to finance the building and construct the building. So, your agreements with the architect, your agreements with the contractors, all of these different groups. We've got to develop all these different agreements. Now, some of that work is a little repetitive of what we've done in the past, what we did in phase one. So not quite as heavy a lift as it was for phase one, but certainly a lot of documents are going to be moving around over the next month or so as we try to push towards that February closing. So, yeah.
Dave Blanks: All right. Cool. We'll get your signing hand ready. I don't know if you're signing any —
Matt Dull: No. I don't —
Dave Blanks: No, you won't [crosstalk 00:11:13].
Matt Dull: I don't get to sign.
Dave Blanks: Do you have a stamp stamp?
Matt Dull: No. [crosstalk 00:11:14]
Dave Blanks: A Matt Dull stamp?
Matt Dull: I do. But I don't ... not —
Dave Blanks: You don't use it at work?
Matt Dull: That's not going to be these. That's just for more private correspondence.
Dave Blanks: For your Christmas card.
Matt Dull: [inaudible 00:11:25] Christmas cards.
Dave Blanks: Right.
Matt Dull: [crosstalk 00:11:27].
Dave Blanks: I was going to ask you ... this just occurred to me. So we're calling them, as we have from the start, 100, 200 and 300. When do the buildings get names?
Matt Dull: You don't like 100, 200, 300?
Dave Blanks: They're very catchy. They are catchy and I always remember them. What about 100? 200? 3 ... It's kind of —
Matt Dull: It's kind of easy. Yeah.
Dave Blanks: There's a little bit of an order, there. So how do they get their names? When do they get their names? What's the deal with that?
Matt Dull: That's a great question. So we have a small committee that has been charged with putting recommendations together for building names for 100, 200, 300 and 400. That group makes recommendations to the chancellor and the Chancellor's Council to be able to name those buildings. So that committee is finishing up its work and getting ready to submit names to the chancellor and Chancellor's Council for approval. So, we will hopefully have some names in the next few weeks.
Dave Blanks: Wow. I didn't expect that. That just came to me, but it was a timely question.
Matt Dull: That was a perfect question.
Dave Blanks: Yes.
Matt Dull: Great lead-up.
Dave Blanks: Well, that's cool.
Matt Dull: So we'll be excited to talk about those names in the New Year.
Dave Blanks: Yeah. I'm really looking forward to hearing some of those.
Matt Dull: [crosstalk 00:12:34].
Dave Blanks: So will we hear them when they're potential names? Or will we only hear it ... will we be like, "Well, this one's in the running," you know what I mean?
Matt Dull: Yeah. No, we'll release just the final names for the buildings.
Dave Blanks: All right. All right.
Matt Dull: Yeah.
Dave Blanks: It'd be fun to make up some like xastaway names. [crosstalk 00:12:51] name it, Kraut Creek Hall.
Matt Dull: Kraut Creek —
Dave Blanks: "No, didn't go for it."
Matt Dull: Hellbender Salamander Hall.
Dave Blanks: Hellbender. Hellbender Hall. Oh, that would be so cool. All right. We'll keep working on those fake names for [crosstalk 00:13:03].
Matt Dull: Yeah. That's right.
Dave Blanks: Well, just a couple of weeks for that.
Matt Dull: Just a few weeks out from that. We need to have names in place, actually, because we're getting ready to —
Dave Blanks: Like, officially [crosstalk 00:13:12] —
Matt Dull: When the students come back, we'll actually start leasing those buildings up with both continuing students and new students. Continuing students first, and then rolling into some of our new students who will be living in the buildings. So, yeah. So we've got to have some names when we try to sell the buildings.
Dave Blanks: Dull Hall. Blanks Hall.
Matt Dull: Yeah.
Dave Blanks: [crosstalk 00:13:29].
Matt Dull: [crosstalk 00:13:30] has a nice ring, [inaudible 00:13:31]?
Dave Blanks: It does. I agree. Matt, do you want to cover anything else today?
Matt Dull: I think that's great for today. And we're just excited to continue good progress on both 100, 200, and be moving pretty quickly over to Building 300. And, yeah.
Dave Blanks: Sounds good, Matt.
Matt Dull: [crosstalk 00:13:48].
Dave Blanks: Well, thanks for coming by again.
Matt Dull: Thanks. Thanks for having me.
