The Scripps College of Communication is without its new home in the Schoonover Center for Communication, three months beyond its original deadline.
The center will open by the end of 2013 after “unforeseen” conditions in its foundation were discovered by contracting company Quandel Construction Group, Inc., said Harry Wyatt, Ohio University associate vice president of Facilities.
One of the construction challenges was stumbling across a shoring wall that was installed to protect the former Baker University Center during construction of the RTV Building. It cost OU $55,000 to “resolve,” but didn’t cause “significant delay” to the Schoonover project, said OU spokeswoman Katie Quaranta.
“We were under the impression that the contractor had recovered with that (foundation), but that was not necessarily the case,” Wyatt said.
The delay incurred extra costs beyond the $22.5 million projected phase one construction costs. However, Wyatt was unable to specify the exact total of the extra bill and who would foot it by press time.
Cornices — decorative molding — that will hang outside the building did not arrive with the correct finish that Facilities ordered. The department is still waiting for them to arrive.
Robert Stewart, director of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, said he is looking forward to the completion of the entire College of Communication, which is slated for a year and a half after phase one is finished.
Eventually all five schools in the college will be under one roof. Schoonover will also feature a large lecture classroom where students can work in small groups at individual tables and a lounge with a fireplace.
“You’re only going to see a glimmer of ultimately what Schoonover is going to be when you come back in the spring of 2014,” Stewart said.
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