Update of CCU’s construction on campus
Construction crews are a way of life on the Coastal Carolina University campus, especially in the summertime. Here's a roundup of some of the hottest projects.
The new residence community behind the HTC Center is the most ambitious project currently underway, with two of the four halls scheduled to open for student move-in in August.
Tradition and The Chanticleer halls will open first, with 650 beds for first-year students. When all four halls are completed, there will be a total of 1,274 new beds.
“We’ve put a premium on community spaces,” says Steve Harrison, director of University Housing, pointing out all the shared lounges, studyrooms, patios, kitchens and more that will grace each building.
Once the four buildings are finished, it will be like its own small city, with a pavilion area (lighted basketball courts, sand volleyball, picnic tables, a double-sided fireplace); apartments for live-in faculty and housing staff; a “kitch-o-laundrama space” with a top-of-the-line kitchen for personal cooking, a sleek laundry room and lounge to hang out with friends while cooking and/or cleaning clothes. And there’ll be a POD (products on demand) market in each building.
Small conference rooms will be included in each building, as well as offices and lots of areas for sitting and private conversations with digital devices. Residential areas in each building will lock down at 5 p.m., and only students or staff with cards will be able to get in.
Harrison says a dedication should occur sometime after Labor Day. But students will definitely be moving into the buildings in August.
Singleton Building renovation
Employees are still packing up their offices and moving out of the Singleton Building and into other spaces on campus and in the Atlantic Center area across U.S. 501.
The Singleton Building, built in 1963, will be completely gutted and rebuilt, including HVAC, electrical and plumbing systems, along with addition of an elevator, ADA upgrades, asbestos removal and interior refurbishment. The projected date for construction start is August, with final completion set for June 24, 2016.
Hicks Dining Hall
This addition to Hicks Dining Hall will house a new food service area to provide hot and cold food to support the new housing area. This project will expand the Hicks by 5,728 square feet plus an outdoor patio seating area. This expansion will provide three additional food stations, a beverage station and approximately 175 additional seats for dining. Estimated final completion is July 29.
Science Annex II
This project involves the construction of a 71,150–square foot second annex to Coastal Carolina’s current Smith Science Building, which was constructed in 1980. The proposed annex will consist of an estimated 40 faculty offices, eight teaching labs for introductory biology and introductory marine science, four 60-seat classrooms, two 45-seat classrooms, one ecology teaching lab and six small labs for ecology research.
This addition is consistent with Coastal Carolina’s plans to renovate the current science building back to classroom space, and construct a new state-of-the-art science building in the future to integrate all science instruction, including marine science and computer science now in remote locations to the main campus. Estimated completion date is April 28, 2016, with an estimated $30 million project budget.
