Have we given up hope that the UDC student center will ever be completed? There have been many delays, but UDC is sticking with its current plan to open the student center’s doors at the Van Ness campus next spring. Our always on-the-go reporter David Bardin alerted us to the latest construction milestones:
- Crane delivery and erection – May 2014
- Slab on grade placement – May 2014
- Structural steel member delivery – May 2014
- Geothermal well field installation – May – October 2014
- Occupancy – Spring 2015
As with any project, you never know what you’ll find until you start digging. UDC’s Office of Facilities web site says “several unforeseen underground obstructions” have contributed to the delays. One of those was an 800-foot concrete slab, “presumably used to support a crane during construction of campus buildings in the late 1960s.”
“The identification and removal of these and various other pieces of buried debris unfortunately affected the construction schedule and required shifting the original completion date,” which had been set for summer 2013.
The weather this winter has also been a problem, says UDC, but now that spring is here at last:
“The project is currently poised to complete below grade foundation systems, installation of utility lines and enclose the lower level of the new building this Spring. Placement of slab on grade concrete is scheduled to be completed in June of 2014. A 200′ tower crane will be delivered to the site in May of this year, as will the first pieces of structural steel. Installation of the building’s mechanical support system (Geothermal Well Field) will be completed in October of 2014. Construction activities will continue throughout the spring and summer months. A ribbon cutting ceremony will be planned for Spring of 2015.”
The work on Park Van Ness at 4455 Connecticut is also moving to the next level. David Bardin took this photo of a crane being erected at the site.
At the April ANC meeting, commissioner Sally Gresham said this is going to be an electric crane, which should cut down some of the noise. For this project, the target date for completion is early 2016.