From the Archives: 'Campus Services Facility open, Parks Hall reopens, other projects in works'

December 28, 2009

[ Editor's note: At the end of the decade, Western Today is publishing articles from the past 10 years of FAST, the campus faculty/staff newsletter. This is one of those articles. Publication of FAST officially ended in the summer of 2009. It was replaced by Western Today. ]

This article first appeared in FAST on Sept. 26, 2002

The Campus Services Facility at the corner of Bill McDonald Parkway and 21st Street is now open. It houses University Police, Parking and Transportation Services, the Lockshop and the Student Health Center.

Phone numbers for these services will remain the same. The mail stop for University Police and Lockshop is 9130; for Parking and Transportation Services it is 9131; and for the Student Health Center, 9132. The two-story building is 33,753 square feet with a vehicle and maintenance area underneath. Total project cost was $7.24 million.

Zervas Group Architects designed the facility with Tiger Construction, LTD as the construction contractor.

Other south campus building updates:

  • Parks Hall reconstruction following the July 3 fire was completed in time for the start of classes on Wednesday. College of Business and Economic faculty and staff have returned to their previous locations. Fire restoration specialist Belfor USA Group Inc. completed the 10-week reconstruction of the fire-damaged building at a cost of about $4 million.
  • Construction of the new Communications Facility, just south of the Environmental Studies building, is in progress. Scheduled for completion in summer 2004, the building will provide space for general university classrooms and house the departments of physics, computer science, communications and journalism. The building has four floors above ground and one below for a total of about 120,000 square feet. The $30 million project is funded from the largest capital budget in Western’s history, approved during the 2002 legislative session. Zimmer, Gunsal, Frasca Partnership designed the facility; general contractor is Hoffmann Construction.
  • Construction is well under way on the 100,000 square-foot Campus Recreation Center, set to open next fall. The student-financed $26 million facility will feature a threecourt gym, multiactivity court, six-lane lap pool and sauna, weight and fitness training areas, elevated jogging track and a rock climbing wall. Students voted by a 76.5 percent majority in February 2000 to assess themselves $80 per quarter to pay off construction bonds and to cover operating costs starting when the building is completed. The building was designed by Opsis and BJSS/Duarte Bryant. General contractor is Dawson Construction.