With the completion of the new student center scheduled for this fall, students are looking forward to all the amenities and technology it will have to offer. Last fall, construction began on the student center on Stonewall Street and has been running smoothly ever since.
The Contractor for the Project, Satterfield & Pontikes Construction, is currently on schedule to complete the building before the end of August, 2008. So far, they have stayed very close to the original schedule, in spite of several periods of bad weather at critical times in the construction.
After the building has been turned over to the University, some time will be needed to install equipment and furnishings. Sodexho and the Unversity Book Store will also need some time to move their operations too.
There will be coordination meetings over the next few months to determine the schedule for those moves.The rising cost of building materials could cause other construction sites to cut corners and skip out on some design ideas.
“There were a few cost saving modifications to the design that were accepted at the beginning of the project, but they didn’t affect the planned functions of the new building. The original design had two passenger elevators at the Main Entry; we are only installing one elevator at this time, with the capability to add the second one if it become necessary in the future,” Jim Patton, project manager said.
It’s not only the students that are excited about what the new student center is offering, Rick Miller, the director of the Sam Rayburn Student Center, can’t wait for the student centers completion.
“Just in the club area: a student club, super games room, Buzztime interactive screens in the club, Soundog wireless tabletop wireless speaker system, 12 42″ flat panel screens, one huge big screen, Myer Sound sound system, Brunswick Crown V pool tables, digital karaoke system, dining patio … hey, that’s just the club,” said Miller.
It seems everywhere students look they are faced with the idea of “going green” and Texas A&M University-Commerce has joined the environmental effort.
“The University, indeed the entire A&M University System, is going “greener” with each new building. The new student center meets the current State of Texas Energy guidelines. Future buildings will meet progressively higher standards in accordance with A&M System goals for 5 percent annual energy reductions,” Patton said.
The ucoming music building, currently in the design process, will incorporate a number of energy saving and sustainability features not considered during the design of the student center. The Board of Regents will probably require the next major building on our Campus to meet LEED certification standards (a rating system developed by the US Green Building Council).