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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 13, 1987)
Wednesday, May 13, 1987/The Battalion/Page 3 State and Local k Coordinator says classes are ready for use Workers complete new chemistry building ; f or seen. right a$i firistiani lieu res, ;an wetij utionant told hisj if. “WW h. - '” the i f fie nei e boss siij ray," 'OSI Ifrilfj; By Lee Schexnaider Staff Writer I After losing its major contrac tor and being pushed a year be hind schedule, the new chemistry building is finally completed and rlady for full occupation, said Dr. ■icheal Rosynek, user-coordina- tlr of the project for the chemis- Hy department. ■ Construction began in 1984 apd was scheduled for comple tion last May, but B.B. Anderson Construction Co. of Topeka, Ban., pulled out of the project with more than $6 million of work unfinished on the $15.5 million facility, according to a Feb. 28, 1986 Batfa/io/i article. ■ George Cole, a project man- ater for the Texas A&M facilities planning and construction de- Bntment, said construction was ft percent complete when B.B. Anderson abandoned the project Because of the company’s bank ruptcy proceedings. ■ After B.B. Anderson pulled out, United States Fidelity and ■uaranty Co., the insurer of the project, hired Avery Mays Co. of Ipallas to finish the project using B B. Anderson’s original budget apd subcontractors, Cole said. I Rosynek said that even though trie project was delayed, the ‘chemistry department will gain ftcognition for the new structure. ■ “Some of the undergraduate mbs, particulary those for the cjiemistry majors, are the best in vine country,” Rosynek said. ■They have some facilities that a e almost unique for laboratory facilities.” I Whenever a department gets a substantial new addition to its buildings, he said, that depart ment's programs and reputation are enhanced. I “Naturally, the faculty is in volved in teaching the courses, but it can do a better job if it has better facilities,” he said. “I think it will enhance our instructional reputation, but it takes a while for such things to get around. I think it will become clear we have one of the best instructional labortory facilities in the country.” Rosynek said the 116,000 squareToot building wall contain a variety of rooms besides under graduate labs. The basement will contain machine, glass-blowing and cabinet shops. It also will have chemical storerooms and service facilities. “There are a series of class rooms and administrative offices on the first floor,” he said. “The top four floors are mostly labo ratories, with a few offices here and there. Of the top four floors, roughly 40 percent to 50 percent are for research and 50 percent to 60 percent are mostly under graduate instructional teaching labortories. It represents a signifi cant expansion for our current undergraduate instructional la- broatories, which are old and - very cramped. “This does not apply to the freshman program which is in Heldenfels. It is a relatively mod ern building, built in 1978. Those laboratories are not moving.” Moving classrooms to the new chemistry building will make space in the present Chemistry Building available for renovation, Rosynek said. There will be three phases to the project. “Each of the three phases will involve something like 20,()()() to 25,000 square feet of space which must be vacated,” he said. “Be cause of the new building being available, the amount of available space will not be intolerable. We will be able to accomodate that. We won’t actually realize our final space allotment until the third phase of the renovation is fin ished.'' Rosynek said that for the next few years there always will be 20,000 to 25,000 square feet un der renovation. “If the new building had not occurred, we could never do i , r ^ liiiiiiiiffl ’ «' A ■ ^ w I ^ iSAi*'' ' The Chemistry Building these renovations,” he said. “We couldn’t possibly evacuate that much space at one time. The new building allows that.” Another major asset of the new building is that the budget for its construction included new un dergraduate laboratory equip ment. Rosynek said. “This will impact the students a lot,” he said. “They will have the opportunity to work with more modern and extensive equipment than they have in the past. This is a very exciting prospect for us and, we hope, for the students as well. It’s a substantial corriple- Iay6 test i' 11 ' quesii ( ieyha |f trying 1 ^eekei' 1 * 1 ganit’ e Figl' 1 a real to me decide er his ravii- people , e no r type* in the fexas We will be buying books back during Finals Week in the Redmond Terrace park ing lot on Texas Ave. Plenty of Free Parking Behind the Store “We care about Aggies- ust as we have for 30 years. Thank you for your business” Old Army Lou ’32 Northgate 335 University ment of equipment. We couldn’t possibly have purchased it with out the new building budget that allows that.” The new equipment items in clude fume hoods for organic chemistry students, he said. “These fume hoods are ar- anged back-to-back in tow banks in each room,” he said. “There are 16 of them in a room. They all have glass sides, so it’s possible for an instructor to stand at one end and look down and see each student working in the fume hoods. What this means is two things: first of all, the students 'hoto by Jay Janner are able to work in very safe quar ters with out vapors and fumes escaping into the room. This can occur if you are not working in a real fume hood. “Secondly, it allows the instruc tor to be able to observe students easier. If they were in conventio nal fume hoods with metal sides, you would have to walk around and actually be right behind the student to see what he’s doing.” Rosynek said the new labo ratory facilities will enhance the chemistry program at Texas A&M. “I think it’s an absolutely first- rate instructional facility.” Crew begins making room for garage By Clark Miller Staff Writer A construction crew has begun the destruction of the Texas A&M Physical Plant to make way for the new six-story parking garage ex pected to be completed in Septem ber 1988, said Wesley Peel, vice chancellor for f acilities planning and construction at A&M. “It’s slow right now, but it is scheduled to be totally demolished within five weeks,” Peel said. As soon as the Physical Plant comes down, Peel said, construction will begin on the high-rise, 2,010-car garage, which is now budgeted for about $4.5 million less than when it was proposed last November. Original cost estimation was $12.6 million in 1986, but Fulshear Corp., a Houston-based general contract ing firm, got the construction bid for $8.1 1 million. Peel said the unexpectedly low bid was due to the shortage of construc tion work in Texas. “We’re in an extremely favorable bidding climate,” he said. Mike Smith, assistant vice chan cellor for facilities planning and con struction at A&M, said the garage will be totally paid for with parking revenues, which include parking tickets and future garage-user fees. The Coordinating Board for Texas Colleges and Universities ap proved the plans for the parking ga rage last month. The initial proposal was in October 1986, but the board held off approving A&M’s garage plans because of a recent backlog of construction projects at Texas uni versities. Elmer Schieder, University Police chief, says the garage is needed be cause some parking lots have been lost through construction projects Predicted growth in A&M enroll ment also will create a need for new parking, he said. Jim Ferguson, A&M associate vice president for operations, said the ga rage will have day parking charged by the hour as well as year-long stick ers for faculty, staff and students. BURNING THE MIDNIGHT OIL? Qtudy QpeciaQ Domino’s Pizza has a special for you! Anytime, day or night, from May 1st thru May 15th you can get a 12" one-item pizza for only $4.95. Our stores will be open from 11am - lam Sunday- Thursday and 11am - 2am Friday & Saturday for your studying convenience. Remember—Domino's Pizza De liver's® Free! No coupon necessary. Not good with any other offer. 693-2335 1504 Holleman South Campus 260-9020 4407 Texas Ave. S. North Campus 822-7373 Townshire Center Bryan
