Rapid growth spurs plans for UA classrooms, labs

— Officials at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville are moving forward with plans to add a classroom and laboratory building to the growing campus.

The university is soliciting responses from qualified architects and general contractors to design and construct a general-use classroom and teaching-lab building.

The university estimates the three- to five-story building, proposed for a site on the south end of campus, would be somewhere between 65,000 and 90,000 square feet with a total project cost ranging from $18.47 million to $25.47 million, according to a request for qualifications.

Construction would start in July 2013 with a timeline of 25 to 28 months, meaning it could open in time for the fall 2015 semester.

Once the university selects an architect and contractor, it will submit the project to the UA board of trustees for its approval, Chancellor G. David Gearhart said Tuesday.

UA needs more classroom space because enrollment has rapidly expanded, Gearhart said. He shared initial plans for the building at a faculty meeting in November.

“We have a severe need for more classroom and lab space because of our growth,” Gearhart said. “I think it’s safe to say we’ll have 24,700 students this fall. We literally are holding some labs on Sundays.”

The state’s oldest and largest public university topped 23,000 students for the first time last fall. Overall enrollment at the 141-year-old landgrant institution increased by nearly 30 percent between fall 2006 and fall 2011.

UA’s enrollment last fall of 23,199 students included a freshman class of 4,447. Both figures are records for the institution.

According to UA’s request for qualifications, the building would eliminate a projected deficit in classrooms and teaching labs for a university enrollment of 28,000.

The building would house classrooms with capacities ranging from 20 to 75 students and labs that could seat anywhere from 20 to 30 students. There would be a small number of faculty offices, according to the request.

The rising enrollment has put a “real strain on the campus,” Gearhart said.

Don Pederson, UA’s vice chancellor for finance and administration, said the proposed location is dependent on the design the architects come up with.

The site is bounded by Dickson Street to the north, Duncan Avenue to the east, the Harmon Avenue parking garage to the south and the Physics Building to the west.

The construction footprint would require the relocation of botany greenhouses to the Arkansas Agricultural Research and Extension Center, about 2 miles north of campus, or some other suitable location, according to UA.

If the site holds, UA would discuss with Fayetteville the possibility of closing Dickson Street north of Duncan Avenue for pedestrian safety, Gearhart said.

Gearhart said the structure would be financed through a bond issue and could be of modular design and construction.

A modular facility, in which standardized parts or units of the structure can be assembled at another location, then put together on site, would cost far less than what campus planners estimate for one built from the ground up, he said.

Arkansas, Pages 20 on 07/27/2012

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