WESTFIELD – Westfield State University is ready to begin construction on a long-awaited new science building, a project whose roots were sown six years ago when a bond issued from the Department of Capital Asset Management (DCAM) for up to $33 million was put in place.
According to University officials, the groundbreaking for the new science facility will occur in September, but this summer will also be packed with campus improvements.
“The contractor has been selected for the job, and it’s going to be Walsh Brothers Construction out of Boston,” said Dr. Curt Robie, assistant vice president of Facilities and Operations at the University, adding that Walsh also completed the school’s newest residence hall, University Hall, last year.
Robie said that the three-story building will be approximately 54,000 square feet in size, and will cost $31 million dollars.
“It has three floors, with a new wing that’s attached to Wilson Hall, but all the systems will be independent of Wilson,” he said. “So even though it is attached, it is kind of like a seperate building. It is going to contain laboratories for all of the sciences – physical science, chemistry, environmental science, biology – and it will also have a complete suite for the new nursing program.”
“The new building will represent really a new face to the University on Western Avenue, but in a way that is not obtrusive,” said Kenneth Lemanski, vice president of Advancement and University Relations. “If you see the way it is still set back from Western Avenue, we’re still doing some active landscaping as part of the project.”
Lemanski added that the design team responsible for the new building was also responsible for the designs to the University’s Woodward Athletic Center and Tim and Jeanne’s Dining Commons, home of the Father John Dean Dining Hall.
Robie said that the entire master planning process for the project started in May 2002 during a meeting at Worcester State College.
“It’s been a long haul to try to get a new academic building,” he said. The new science building will be the first full academic building to be built on the campus in decades.
When asked what the new building’s impact will be in attracting future students, Lemanski is optimistic.
“The buildings not even built yet, and biology majors are already up incredibly,” he said. “I think Buzz (Hoagland, Biology Department chair) told me 50 new bio majors this coming year, so that is even without the new building.”
Westfield State’s nascent nursing students had previously been using space at Noble Hospital, but Lemanski believes that the new building will benefit their department.
“The nursing program is not at it’s full complement, but now they’ll have their own suite,” he said. “We don’t expect a huge bump in overall numbers, but we expect to be able to recruit in the sciences like we’ve never done before with the new building.”
Lemanski commented that the soon-to-be tenants of the new science building already have a sizeable presence.
“Environmental science is already a big major, biology is starting to grow,” he said, adding that he expects chemistry’s numbers to continue to rise.
Robie said that the math, geography and regional planning, and even business departments, will also gain space in the new building, as an “innovation classroom” will be built on the building’s third floor.
“The interactive classroom, we’re still working on a final design on it, but one of the things that our business and economic departments would like to do is to simulate the New York Stock Exchange,” he said. “So we’re looking at how best to pull that off, but also have it be a multi-use facility that could be used for team-based learning and other different approaches to education.”
Summer campus renovations will include the installation of air conditioning units in two academic buildings, Bates and Parenzo Halls, while two residence halls will also be receiving attention, most notably the Banquet Hall in Scanlon Hall’s and Davis Hall, which will be receiving it’s first renovation in over two decades.
“We’re doing about $6.6 million (worth of work) in Davis, redoing all the bathrooms, taking them off the corridors, they’re going to have seperate doors,” Robie said, adding that the school will spend about $10 million in renovations unrelated to the new science building this summer.
“Sixty percent of the building will be accessible once we finish. Then we’re coming back next year if we have funding to put in a new elevator in the building, and then doing the same thing in Dickinson Hall, pending funds,” he said.
Robie said that all of these renovation projects would not be done through the legislature, but rather through Massacusetts State College Building Authority (MSCBA). He added that air conditioning upgrades to Bates and Parenzo would run about $2.3 million.
“We’re also spending about $200,000 for emergency lighting at the athletic fields. We’re spending $150,000 to do some repairs and upgrades to the athletic storage facility, which is basically the main entrance to the Alumni Field,” Robie said.
“We have one of the biggest space allocations of all the state universities, and it gets used by a lot of regional schools for their athletic events, so it gets a lot of wear and tear,” said Molly Watson, spokesperson for the University.
