Construction on campus builds up

Construction is well underway on the University Park Campus, with several projects slated to be completed or begin this summer.

Working hard · Construction is currently underway on Wallis Annenberg Hall, one of the more than 80 projects that are currently being worked on this summer. – Ralf Cheung | Daily Trojan

The largest undertaking will be the renovation of the University Village, with demolition of the old village beginning this summer and construction of the new buildings to follow and be completed in the fall 2017.

“We have over 80 projects that will start, finish, or both, this summer,” Joe Back, Associate Senior Vice President for Campus Development and Facilities Management said in a statement to the Daily Trojan. “Most of them are typical office, classroom, housing and laboratory upgrades, along with plenty of utility upgrades and maintenance projects.  All of these projects are important to the university and the various schools and departments that initiated them.”

Back said some of the more visible projects underway this summer are the McClintock hardscape and landscape improvement which will begin this week and is scheduled to be completed in spring 2015.

In addition, the “Wall of Troy” perimeter fence is well underway and should be completed by fall 2014.

Site utility work has begun for the new Glorya Kaufman International Dance Center, which will be at the corner of 34th Street and Watt Way. Construction will begin in the fall, and the building is scheduled to be completed by summer 2016, for use in the fall semester of that year.

Demolition and site work is also underway for the construction of Jill and Frank Fertitta Hall, a new building for the Marshall School of Business that will open fall 2016. Some demolition work has been completed for the new Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience, but full construction is not slated to begin until spring 2015.

In addition to new construction this summer, several ongoing projects will be completed and ready for use in the fall. The most notable of which is the new Wallis Annenberg Hall which will be completed this summer and in use during the next semester.

In addition, the Verna and Peter Dauterive Hall, made possible by a $30 million donation by USC trustee Verna B. Dauterive, will be completed and will be in use during the fall. The building will be the new home of the Price School of Public Policy and used for interdisciplinary collaboration in the social sciences. Back said the new building is a “significant addition to the campus at the Pardee Way entrance.”

Finally, construction on the 4th floor of Steven and Kathryn Sample Hall in the Campus Center is scheduled to be completed this summer and ready for use in the fall.

“This project builds out space that was left unfinished in the original campus center construction and provides new space for various student activity functions on one side of the floor and a new home for USC Roski School of Art & Design program known as ‘The Academy,’” Back said.

Back said that all projects were on schedule and on budget, but was not at liberty to discuss the costs of the construction at this time due to the number of projects and parties involved.