2013 was big for construction at Southeast Missouri State University

With about $52 million spent on construction in 2013, Southeast Missouri State University is wrapping up a busy year of building.

Some of the larger projects include the River Campus expansion, expected to enhance that area's status as a hub of arts activities; a new transportation nexus; a chiller plant; a new residence hall; renovation of the Magill Hall of Science; restoration and refurbishment of Academic Hall; and the Mark F. Scully Building heating, ventilation and air-conditioning renovations, facilities management director Angela Meyer said in an email to the Southeast Missourian.

And Meyer's department is gearing up to bid out renovations to Memorial Hall, as well as plans to regrade the staircase near the Brandt Hall of Music.

A worker welds at the top of the new addition of Southeast Missouri State University’s River Campus on Friday. (Laura Simon)

Finished a few weeks ago, the transportation nexus is part of an upgrade that started in the late 1990s, Meyer said. The enclosed, climate-controlled space features vending, a unisex restroom, benches, a monitor that tracks where buses are on their routes and an emergency phone that connects to Department of Public safety and video monitors so students can track buses they're waiting for, said Meyer and Beth Glaus, manager for parking, transit and emergency preparedness with the department.

The nexus, which covers a little more than 1,000 square feet and can accommodate more than 100 students at a time, replaces an open-air shelter located in the student parking lot near the Student Recreation Center.

"2013 was a huge year," Meyer said. "I would have to say in the 12 years I've been here, the last three have been the most intense when it comes to construction on campus."

River Campus

Construction costs for the 93,500-square-foot River Campus expansion, which will include 184 total beds, are budgeted at $23,284,000. Work by contractor River City Construction of Peoria, Ill., started in fall 2013 and is expected to be complete in July for use in the fall, Meyer said.

The main level includes a dance floor, choral rehearsal studio, practice rooms and sectionals, an acting/directing classroom, and full-service dining for up to 120 people, she said. The mezzanine level includes an art classroom and the second level will have 13 faculty offices and resident rooms with the third floor being resident rooms.

The number of majors at the Earl and Margie Holland School of Visual and Performing Arts was 440 in fall 2007, growing to 505 in fall 2013, according to university information. Rhonda Weller-Stilson, director and associate dean, said in an email that the building will be a "wonderful benefit to our students."

Southeast Missouri State University students disperse after getting off their shuttle at the university’s new shuttle stop on New Madrid Street on Friday. The new stop features a heating and cooling system, restrooms, drinking fountains, soda machine and an map with the locations of shuttles and wait time. (Laura Simon)

"We are proud that we have had such growth," Weller-Stilson said. "In higher education, this a very good number, especially when we look at this period and the difficult financial times."

Bruce Skinner, assistant vice president for Student Success and director of residence life, said River Campus rooms are not limited to students in the arts, but those students will probably make up the majority of the residents.

"We needed it for two reasons," Skinner said. "One is with the growth of River Campus, in terms of majors, we've been hearing from students wanting residence space [there]. The second thing was with the growth in majors there; it was a need for additional academic space. We were able to address those two needs in one building."

Some of the demand for single rooms also will be filled by the River Campus and conversion of Dearmont Hall on the main campus to that style of living. The idea of having more single rooms first came up six or seven years ago, but there was no space to accommodate that wish. Since then, however, just more than 500 beds have been added, and the River Campus will add more than 180.

"This is a perfect building to try this with," Skinner said. "With the River Campus not being on the main campus, it gives us a more captive audience of students to try this with versus if we just built this on the main campus. ... We don't have any other buildings on campus that are quite this mix of academic and residence halls."

On the horizon

A worker welds at the top of the new addition of Southeast Missouri State University’s River Campus on Friday. (Laura Simon)

Renovations to Memorial Hall and the staircase near the Brandt Hall of Music are two major projects coming up, along with some mechanical upgrades at the Towers dorms.

Plans are to lessen the grade of the staircase, which Meyer said is "heavily traveled" by pedestrians, and create more of a plaza where people would "hang out because that seems to be the crossroads where all the academic buildings come together."

Some elevator work at Kent Library and maintenance makes up the rest of the docket at this point.

"While the work has not diminished a whole lot in our department, the complexity and the capital projects have gone down, so I don't have all these new projects coming in at once," Meyer said. "It gives me the opportunity to plan and continue work on maintenance. ... We still have several of our academic buildings that are in similar shape as what Academic and Magill are, so there's no lack of work when it comes to maintenance."

Dempster update

Interior renovations on Robert A. Dempster Hall, the roof of which caught fire in July, are complete and roof construction associated with the fire is done. However, Meyer said, the original work project is not. The building is the largest one on campus when it comes to academic space, she said.

"The weather has not been helpful. ... That one was an unexpected project in the middle of everything else going on," Meyer said.

Ann Hayes, director of the news bureau at Southeast, said in an email to the Southeast Missourian that the university received a report from the state fire marshal who said the cause of the fire was inconclusive.

Funds

Annual allocations for new construction and maintenance depend on the projects at hand, Meyer said. "New construction is based on our bonding capacity; our maintenance and repair dollars are split between a variety of maintenance projects, and it just depends what the greatest need is."

Facilities management keeps up with a little more than 2 million square feet on more than 500 acres of land, Meyer said.

" ... We haven't had any money from the state in the 12 years that I've been here [for capital improvements], so our budget has remained constant while square footage to maintain has gone up," Meyer said.

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