All of OU’s new residence halls are on schedule to be completed in the summer, while Park Place nears the end of its construction.
Park Place is set to be open to vehicular traffic by March 6, according to university officials.
“The weather this week has held us up some,” said Richard Shultz, interim associate vice president for Architecture, Design and Construction. “But we plan to open the road at the end of the day next Friday.”
A Twitter post on Tuesday showed what appeared to be tire tracks in newly poured concrete on Park Place, however the tracks were fixed within the hour. It is unclear if the incident hindered the construction process.
Other construction projects on campus are also on schedule to be completed.
Ohio University’s newest residence halls on South Green are about 77 percent complete, according to university officials.
Each of the four residence halls are currently at different points of completion, said Christine Sheets, assistant vice president for Student Affairs.
The northeastern building is about 84 percent complete and is planned to have construction completed by May 4, Sheets said.
Residence halls are set to open for new students August 20 for the 2015-16 academic school year.
“After that point in time, university officials will take over to start cleaning and facilitating the move in of furniture,” she said.
Certain areas of the building look almost completely finished, Sheets said.
On some floors the only things needing completion are finishing touches like tile floor drains, lighting in residence hall rooms and interior door hardware.
“Some of it looks very, very complete and nice,” Sheets said. “I’m very proud of the work (the construction workers are) doing.”
The southwest building — currently at about 72 percent completion — will be finished after the northeast building. That structure is set to be complete by May 26.
The southeast building — currently at about 68 percent completion — is slotted for completion by June 25; the northwest building, currently at 65 percent completion, will be done by July 8.
Construction of a learning commons within the complex is also underway. That portion is currently at about 62 percent completion, and is set to be done by July 16.
Sheets estimated that more than 300,000 work hours and between 250 and 325 workers have gone into the construction of the new residence halls.
“We have a great safety record as far as our personnel,” Sheets said. “It’s been amazing, the safety magnitude of how it’s been managed.”
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