A number of construction projects will be starting or wrapping up at the Kansas University Lawrence and Edwards campuses this summer and upcoming school year.

Projects in progress

Among the projects that are already under way on the Lawrence campus, according to Jim Modig:

• Jayhawker Towers, Tower A, is being remodeled.

• A new School of Pharmacy, measuring at 111,000 square feet, is being built on West Campus. The project has just started and should be completed in fall 2010. It will provide classrooms, a class lab, faculty offices and a dean office.

• The third phase of improvements in Wescoe Hall will have begun this summer.

“By the time we get around to fall semester, we will have completed about $4.9 million of improvements in that building, and that is from the deferred maintenance program,” Modig said.

Improvements include replaced heating and air conditioning and fire code improvements.

• The second phase of improvements on the utility tunnel will continue. There have been $6 million in improvements for this maintenance. Modig said parking lots that have been blocked from the tunnel construction should be open in the fall.

Upcoming work

Projects that will begin in the upcoming school year on the Lawrence campus, according to Modig:

• Jayhawker Towers, Tower D, will receive similar construction that has been done to Tower A. It will start later this year and is scheduled for completion in summer 2010.

• Numerous projects thanks to $2 million from the federal stimulus. These funds will go toward fire code improvements in Anschutz Science Library, roof replacements for Carruth-O’Leary Hall and the Military Science Building, carpet and wall repairs at Strong Hall, electrical improvements and heating and air conditioning improvements in Dyche Hall, miscellaneous lab improvements and repairs in various buildings and a water line replacement project for Jayhawk Boulevard.

• There will also be further fire code, campus safety, lighting, lab and technical improvements, roof and window replacements, waterproofing of tunnels and other projects that will start in the fall, or at the latest, in spring or summer.

Athletics work

KU Athletics also has construction projects lined up. Among them, according to Jim Marchiony, associate athletics director:

• A basketball practice facility, adjacent to Allen Fieldhouse, is under construction.

• First-floor corridors — including updated concessions stands and restrooms — and men’s and women’s locker rooms in the Allen Fieldhouse are being renovated.

• Booth Family Hall of Athletics in the Allen Fieldhouse is also being renovated.

• A donor atrium in Allen Fieldhouse is being constructed.

• New artificial turf will be placed in Memorial Stadium.

Marchiony said all renovations to Allen Fieldhouse would be completed by October.

Other projects

Additionally, the Edwards campus will gain a new facility focused on business, engineering, science and technology, Modig said. Johnson County recently authorized a one-eighth of a cent sales tax to support research, which is how the 75,000-square-foot, $24.9 million building is funded. The space will include media-equipped classrooms, computer equipment and faculty and support staff space. The projected completion is fall 2011.

Modig said the support from the federal stimulus went toward deferred maintenance projects.

“It’s something we really need desperately to stay focused on — getting our facilities repaired now instead of later when it’s difficult to recover,” he said.

Modig said with the poor state of the economy, it has been difficult to fund maintenance projects.

For the fiscal year 2010, which began on July 1, the Kansas Board of Regents will provide $3.9 million, and the university will provide $1.9 million for construction efforts.

“We are approaching $200 million” in backlog maintenance projects, Modig said.

He said the university’s rate of deterioration, which is the rate at which its buildings deteriorate per year, is 2 percent.

“We’re falling further and further behind on our deferred maintenance,” he said.

A five-year maintenance funding plan was passed and signed into Kansas law in 2007. The plan provides some funds and tax credits to six state universities, including KU.