Construction is likely to start in January and looking to finish by the fall semester of 2020. Thomas Iacobucci |The Crow’s Nest
By Seth Payan
Last April, plans to remodel the Davis building’s second floor first began.
The project blueprints were planned to be completed around fall of 2018, but consolidation threw a wrench in the plans.
Edward Lewis, USF St. Petersburg’s construction project manager, then said that the blueprints would be available this fall. But the design has yet to be started.
“We had to follow a strict state selection process to determine who would be the chosen development partner to work with us on this project,” Lewis said. “This did add some time to the design process.
“At present, we are about to start the process of negotiating with a design and building developers,” he said. “Once they are under contract, design will start, which we anticipate having by the end of the year.”
“Construction is likely to start in January and looking to finish by the fall semester of 2020.”
Some concerns included the displacement of ongoing classes, as well as what the overall plan was going to include as far as new classrooms, labs and offices.
“The plan is to completely demolish and clear the second floor before building new classrooms and the required number of staff and faculty offices,” Lewis said.
“We want to make sure that we improve the experience for all, using the new space by incorporating a student lounge and hangout space.”
Haley Cocks, the senior academic program specialist in the Registrar’s Office, has been in charge of “optimizing” the classroom space for courses that would normally be held in Davis Hall during construction.
“Surprisingly, we did end up having enough empty classrooms in other buildings, like LPH, STG and Coquina, to schedule the courses in for next year,” Cocks said.
“Rooms that contained special equipment or computers have also been accounted for. Optimization hasn’t happened yet, as it takes place on September 16, but I am very sure that we will have enough space for everything.”
