The University of Alabama System Board of Trustees met on Nov. 7 and 8, discussing updates to various ongoing construction projects.
Alice Kidd building demolition and creation of a Student Well-Being Hub
“The Student Media building and the Theatre and Dance Annex, located at 414 and 402 Campus Drive East, respectively, were originally constructed in 1961 for Alabama Department of Mental Health as nursing home facilities,” said Mike Rodgers, assistant vice chancellor for construction management.
The buildings will be demolished in order to make room for a new Student Well-Being Hub that will house multiple divisions of UA Student Life, including the Counseling Center, Collegiate Recovery and Intervention Services, Health Promotion and Wellness and the Women and Gender Resource Center. The demolition budget is $978,350 and the Student Well-Being Hub budget is revised to be $59,936,000.
Campus safety and security enhancements
Security enhancements include the installation of additional and enhanced lighting and security cameras at Fraternity Lane, Jefferson Avenue, 4th Street East and University Boulevard. The project budget is $1,695,814.
Athletic venues WiFi enhancements
The University plans to expand and improve Wi-Fi networks at Bryant-Denny Stadium and Coleman Coliseum to enhance the fan experience.
Rodgers said, “This project would be the ‘first of its kind’ to offer WiFi 6e and 7 in an outdoor venue, deploying over 100 network switches and almost thousands of wireless access points across the venues.”
WiFi 6e and 7 are the latest generations of WiFi, offering reduced latency and increased capacity and speed.
The project budget is $13,300,000, including over $6 million in network WiFi equipment.
Dedicated pickleball courts
The University is looking to add dedicated pickleball courts next to the tennis courts at the Recreational Center. This comes over a year after the University reworked the tennis courts to allow for students to play pickleball on them.
Steven Hood, vice president for student life, said that the addition will help offload some of the demand for pickleball that has made many more students play on the tennis courts than before.
Gorgas Library renovations
Phase 3 of 4 of the Gorgas Library renovation master plan, which seeks to modernize the University’s main library, consists of partial renovations to the first floor and complete renovations to the fifth, sixth and seventh. The project budget is $39,500,000.
Reserve Officers’ Training Corps facility and Student Veterans Center
The project includes a 19,700-square foot training facility, an adjacent 75-foot repelling tower and a dirt path obstacle course. The facility will also include multi-purpose spaces, locker rooms and training areas.
The budget for the project is $12,750,000, and it will be located north of Campus Drive and east of Highway 82, near the Northeast Commuter parking lot.
