Though hammering won't stop anytime soon at some construction sites around Elon University's campus, other projects are running on schedule and new additions will be unveiled as soon as next year. University building projects to construct on-campus housing options and a renovation in Moseley Center to house the Career Center began this year, as well as construction of Elon Community Church's fellowship hall.
Elon University construction projects
The Global Neighborhood, a five-building residential complex and dining hall, will take the place of the existing Harper Center and former Story Center. Story Center, comprised of Chandler, Maynard and Colclough residence halls, was demolished in August so construction for a new dining hall, which the university announced would be ready in January 2013, could begin.
Neil Bromilow, director of planning, design and construction management, said after this year, no students would be assigned to live in Harper Center, which includes Moffitt and Staley residence halls. The four new residence hall buildings that will be constructed in Harper Center's place will be ready for occupancy in fall 2014.
"They will be very similar to the new Colonnades C, D and E buildings," Bromilow said of the Global Neighborhood residence buildings. "You will see suites, some singles, split quads and similar patterns to Colonnades housing."
Residence halls in the Global Neighborhood will provide 600 beds, housing approximately the same number of students as the area's previous dormitories. Bromilow said the four buildings would most likely be a mixture of three and four floors.
Although the Global Neighborhood will primarily house first year students, The Station at Mill Point, a village of on-campus townhouses for upperclassmen, is being constructed on Fire House Field at the corner of Williamson Avenue and Ball Park Road.
Construction is currently on schedule for the complex's 25 buildings, which are scheduled for completion in summer 2012, Bromilow said. Starting in April 2012, approximately five buildings will be finished each month through August.
The townhouses will feature single bedrooms and bathrooms with a common living room, kitchen, dining area and washing machines and dryers in each unit. One of the buildings will house amenities and social functions for the complex's residents.
"It's not going to be like Danieley Center or the Oaks where it's all uniform," Bromilow said. "These will be consciously different looking buildings on the exterior, and not just the color. Your basic bedroom is going to be same, but how you live and how it works is going to be significantly different. It will give the ability to live on campus like you're off campus."
A model unit of the townhouses will be available for students to view before housing registration for next year, Bromilow said, and several of the buildings have already gone up.
"What you're seeing now are a couple of the same type of units going up," he said. "If you look closer, you'll see that there's a smaller one here, a porch on the front over there, a center entrance on another. They're different."
Elon University's Office of Career Services, currently housed in Duke, will soon be a part of the Student Professional Development Center to be located in Moseley Center. The office is scheduled to open January 2012 and will occupy the former campus bookstore space. Construction has been ongoing since the campus shop moved to the Elon Town Center in August.
"The space used to be a large, open bookstore and will now be a series of offices, meeting rooms and interview rooms with very professional, business-like decor," Bromilow said. "It's several thousand square feet, so bigger than what they have now. Significantly bigger."
Elon Community Church addition
Elon Community Church is constructing an auxiliary facility across Williamson Avenue from the southwest part of Elon's campus. The building will include three new classrooms for the church, a kitchen, an elevator and handicap accessible restrooms in addition to a large space for events.
"The main thing we're providing is a needed fellowship hall facility, a place for a multi-purpose room with a stage as well as a full commercial kitchen," said the Rev. Randy Orwig, senior pastor of Elon Community Church. "We're really excited about that."
Orwig said the church currently has limited accessibility for the disabled. Individuals using wheel chairs and walkers to go downstairs in the church must go out the front door, walk around the side to the lower level and enter that way, he said.
"We definitely have accessibility problems," Orwig said. "This expansion will transform the whole building and make it more accessible."
The church also wanted to open its doors for students and people in the community to use its facility, from exercise groups to wedding receptions and performing arts programs for the university, Orwig said.
"We consider ourselves a community church and know there will be a lot of community groups coming and student groups and organizations using it because of our strong ties to the university," he said. "So the building will be used for a myriad of activities."
Although there was an initial possibility that the building would be completed in late January, Orwig said problems with the ground delayed the project, but it is back on track and the church is now hoping to be using the facility by this Easter Sunday April 8.
"We are on budget and, so far, we're staying in the parameters of our contract," he said. "We've been able to save some money here, spend a little money there. Moser, Mayer and Phoenix (Architecture) are helping us keep a close eye on it and RESOLUTE Building Company is doing a great job so far"