U. starts new 600-car garage

Construction of a multi-level parking garage that will be located at the corner of 38th and Walnut streets began earlier this week. Vice President for Facilities Management Arthur Gravina said yesterday that the parking garage is a two-part project. The initial phase will be to build the six-story parking facility and the second part will be to construct a sophisticated chill-water plant which will be housed in the garage. Gravina said that the garage -- which will stretch from Walnut to Sansom streets -- will house about 600 cars. Parking will be largely for visitors and will support the Annenberg Center. He added that the facility may include some permit parking and will absorb parking spots displaced by the future construction of the Revlon Campus Center in the 3600 block of Walnut Street. Gravina said the University is still awaiting certain building permits from the city and the work currently being done in the area is only preliminary. He said he estimates completion of the garage phase of the plan by the middle of 1994. The parking garage will cost about $13 million, Gravina said. He also said the garage will house a chill-water system that is "the most sophisticated in the world." The chill-water plant has been designed to service new buildings that have been planned for campus including the Revlon Center, the Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and the Law School. The technologically advanced water plant will be able to chill water more cost effectively. The plant will produce ice at night when electricity rates are at a minimum. During the day, instead of using electrical coils to cool water for the University, the water will simply be run over the ice that was produced the night before. Gravina estimates this system will cut the University's electric bills by $1 million a year. The University will have six chill-water plants when the one housed in the garage is completed. All six will then be connected in order to more easily and efficiently service the University buildings and facilities. Gravina said that much of the piping necessary to complete this "loop" has already been put into place. Gravina added that the water plant will be completed six months after the parking garage is finished. The chill-water plant will cost the University $24 million and will be paid for over the next 15 years. Gravina said that the garage and chill-water plant are necessary facilities that will allow the campus to expand more easily in the future. "In order for the campus to meet the needs of its increasing populations whether it be teachers, administration, or students, you need the infrastructure to support [any expansion. This facility] is anticipating this change and is doing it most cost effectively," he said.