By snoadmin
CSULB officials say the three major on-campus construction projects have managed to remain on schedule and on budget through the summer.Construction of the building that will house the new Outpost restaurant on lower campus should be completed as early as Oct. 24, according to Don Penrod, general manager of 49er Shops, Inc.Project officials originally estimated completion by spring 2008, but, Penrod said the initial bids 49er Shops, Inc. received were $1 to $2 million more than expected.”[We had to] do some value engineering and simplify the plans, which helped us get more bidders,” Penrod said.This caused an eight or nine-month delay, but saved 49er Shops, Inc. around $750,000, according to Penrod.In addition, Penrod said the Steton Construction group encountered a 30-to-40-day delay due to problems with the utilities under the construction site, and a need to re-plan the setting of the footings.As to whether or not the Outpost will be open this semester, “The question is: ‘is it worth opening?” says Vice President for Administration and Finance Mary Stephens. “We might just keep [the temporary facility running].”To make it worthwhile, Stephens says the Outpost would have to be ready by early November, which Penrod does not expect to happen.After construction is complete, 49er Shops, Inc. will need to attain a Certificate of Occupancy, train new employees and order supplies.”These things typically run long,” Penrod said “so, to be conservative, we’re saying spring 2009.” The Outpost Camp — which Stephens and Penrod said is an upgrade from last spring’s temporary replacement, the Outpost Café — sits in front of the Outpost’s permanent location on lower campus near the Engineering buildings and Social Science and Public Administration building.While the Grand catering company ran the temporary stand last semester, 49er Shops, Inc. has taken over for fall, and provides students with food from 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. 49er Shops, Inc. recently acquired a kitchen trailer for food preparation in order to meet tighter restrictions on temporary food stands brought on as a result of Los Angeles County deliberations regarding “taco trucks.” Stephens said the entire Outpost remodeling will cost $5.5 million.The new Parking Structure 3 facility continues to remain on schedule and should be completed by the spring of 2009. It’ll add about 1,300 new parking spaces. The increase in parking spaces will be partly used to replace the spaces in Lot 11C, which will be converted into a student recreation center. Construction equipment used in the demolition and reconstruction of the Peterson Hall of Science 3 building, which had stood on upper campus for 46 years, was hit by vandals who tore out the controls from one of the excavators, a machine used for digging up ground material, in early August, according to Gene Vincent, the project manager. Vincent says the vandalism had no effect on the project’s schedule and it will be completed, as planned, in March 2011. As a result, Hunt Construction Group Inc. has hired a security firm to patrol the site nightly.The construction crew’s cleanup of PH 3’s remains and some additional light demolition should be completed by mid September, according to Vincent, which will allow for the survey for the new building.Parking Lot 8, a lot for faculty, has been temporarily closed due to the construction at PH3.According to a press release, the cost of the project is $86.8 million and will house laboratories, lecture rooms and faculty offices.Future construction projects include the recreation center, its ground breaking is scheduled for December according to Associated Students, Inc.’s website, and a new nursing building, which will begin in June.
