Improvements to buildings on schedule, budget

Major summer construction projects throughout USC are on schedule and on budget, according to Joe Back, associate senior vice president for campus development and facilities management.

Summer construction · Two construction workers look out at a covered Tommy Trojan in Hahn Plaza, one of several construction sites. The renovations are part of a larger project to improve paving and landscaping along Child’s Way. - Arkadiy Garber | Summer Trojan

The most visible summer projects include renovations to EVK Restaurant and Grill, King’s Hall, which housed Café 84, Parking Structure X and Hahn Plaza. Another summer project is the completion of the John McKay Center.

The improvements of Café 84 will draw on Whole Foods Market as a model, Director of Hospitality Kris Klinger said to the Daily Trojan in April. For the EVK renovation, Klinger said his department is looking for inspiration from True Food Kitchen, a small chain of restaurants that Klinger described as “open and bright.”

The renovations to PSX will upgrade the structure so that it is more in line with standards for new parking buildings and so that it has brick along the walls of the structure.

“Much of the structural work being done will be mostly invisible to the casual observer, but the big thing that will be noticed is the brick being added to the building to make it more compatible with nearby buildings and the overall look of the campus,” Back said.

The John McKay Center, which has been under construction for the past one and a half years, is slated for completion in late July or early August, Back said. It will provide a new and significantly larger academic center for all student-athletes, new training and workout spaces, offices for coaches and staff and a new locker room.

The upgrade to Hahn Plaza, a central point on campus, will affect the landscape and paving in the area. Though some work has been done there in the past, no renovations of this magnitude have been made, Back said.

“This is actually a continuation of work that has been taking place during the past two summers to replace and upgrade the paving and landscape along Child’s Way,” Back said. “Hahn Plaza is a major piece of that work and will be completed this summer.”