As Penn prepares to expand eastward, officials are taking care of some on-campus housecleaning first.
The University will complete a spate of renovation and construction projects this summer across campus in order to minimize disruption during the school year, said Frank Daly, Penn's managing director of design and construction.
One major plan involves clearing existing vegetation and buildings in parts of the 14-acre parcel of land south of Walnut Street. The $410,000 project will install new lighting and fencing around the postal-lands area.
Other scheduled summer projects:
- High Rises: After Commencement, officials will begin the second, $34.5 million phase of high-rise renovations.
Scheduled for completion by late August, the project entails installing new kitchen fixtures in rooms, renovating bathrooms and repairing existing plumbing systems in the bottom 14 floors and top 12 floors of Harnwell and Harrison college houses, respectively.
- Classrooms: Classrooms in David Rittenhouse Laboratory and McNeil, Meyerson and Williams halls will receive face-lifts, including a $733,000 project involving new blackboards, markerboards, lighting and ceiling fixtures.
Work will begin after Commencement and will be completed before the start of the fall semester.
- College Houses: Officials will partially replace roofs on Stouffer, Hill and Kings Court/English college houses.
The existing roofs "are at the end of their useful life and in need of replacement," Daly said. "They either have started or have the imminent potential to leak."
Sections of Hill's roof and sun decks will be replaced, costing $160,000. An additional $430,000 will go toward replacing Stouffer's roof.
Officials have not yet determined the cost for the Kings Court/English roof replacement, but Daly said the project will include installing new, environmentally friendly "green" roofs on the building.
- Reconstruction: The demolition of the old Hillel building near 36th and Walnut streets will begin in early June in preparation for the construction of the $22 million Annenberg Public Policy Center on that site.
Construction on the Center will begin in the fall and is slated for completion by May 2009.
- Quadrangle: The brick wall surrounding the Quadrangle will be rebuilt this summer.
The $1.9 million project will refurnish the wall and wrought-iron fence.
Other than partial obstruction of certain walkways, Daly said disruption would be minimal, but he added that the project could affect portions of Hamilton Walk well into September.
- The Nursing School: Portions of interior and exterior walls in the School of Nursing's Fagin Hall will be demolished this summer, as a part of a year-long project to renovate and expand office space in the building's third and fourth floors.
School administrators will schedule summer classes in portions of the building not affected by construction.
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