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Boston College’s new residence hall at 2150 Commonwealth Avenue will begin taking shape in the next few months, one of several major upcoming and ongoing campus construction projects this summer.
In addition to the start of the Commonwealth Avenue project – which will first involve the demolition of More Hall – renovations will continue on St. Mary’s Hall and Maloney Hall. None of the construction work scheduled for the summer is expected to significantly affect vehicular or pedestrian traffic on campus, according to Facilities Management administrators.
The approximately 240,000 square-foot residence hall, when completed in the summer of 2016, will provide an additional 490 beds in four and six-person apartments for BC undergraduates. In addition, the building – which will vary between five and six stories – will house two staff/faculty-in-residence apartments, seminar and music practice rooms, and the BC Health Services Center, which will relocate from Cushing Hall.
This week and next should see the completion of some key tasks – including asbestos abatement and the cutting and capping of utilities – prior to the demolition of More Hall, Facilities Management administrators said. The demolition is expected to take approximately four weeks, after which the work on 2150 Commonwealth Avenue will begin.
The project team for 2150 Commonwealth Avenue includes EYP Architecture & Engineering of Boston – the designers for nearby Stayer Hall – and Bond Brothers, a construction and contracting firm based in Everett.
“We have a strong team on this project and we are applying the latest construction management techniques to deliver the highest quality with the utmost efficiency,” said Associate Vice President for Capital Projects Mary Nardone.
Renovations for St. Mary’s Hall, the primary residence for BC’s Jesuit community, are on schedule for completion in November, administrators said. Recent activity at the site has included installation of cast stones at the east end of the chapel, the building’s north façade and a new entrance facing the Plaza at O’Neill Library; inside, painting and various mechanical, electrical and plumbing work continues.
Plans call for Jesuit residents to move into St. Mary’s in December, according to Facilities Management. Also at the end of the year, the Woods College of Advancing Studies will relocate from McGuinn Hall to the ground level of St. Mary’s; the upper levels will be occupied by the Communication and Computer Science departments when they move from Maloney Hall. St. Mary’s will formally reopen in January.
“This has been a very exciting project in terms of its technical complexity, historic restoration and prominence on Linden Lane,” said Nardone.
Maloney Hall will have its own construction and relocation activity this summer, with the building’s fourth floor now being renovated as the new home for the Student Affairs division, which is currently on the second floor; the Economics Department has moved from the fourth floor to the third floor. Once Student Affairs is resettled, work will begin on the second floor, and part of the third, as the future headquarters for the Connell School of Nursing – the school will relocate from Cushing Hall in the summer of 2015.
Other projects of note taking place this summer:
• The second floor of O’Neill Library, formerly the Computing Resource Center, will be reconfigured to house the Center for Teaching
Excellence.
• State-of-technology fire alarm and sprinkler protection systems will be installed in Ignacio Hall.
• Electrical work will take place in the Commonwealth Avenue parking garage, with no impact on parking availability expected.