Trustees: Construction, River Corridor Plan

TRUSTEES MOVE FORWARD ON CONSTRUCTION AND PLANNING

COLUMBUS -- The Ohio State University Board of Trustees on 
Friday (7/10) authorized the university to hire designers and 
seek bids and awarded construction contracts for several major 
capital projects on the Columbus campus.  Trustees also heard a 
first reading of a master plan for development of the land around 
the Olentangy River.

Trustees OK design work, award construction contracts

Trustees authorized the university to hire architects and 
engineers and request construction bids for a renovation project 
that is related to work at Ohio Stadium.  Design work for the 
renovation of Mack Hall will allow the Stadium Scholarship 
Program to relocate to the new building from its current home in 
the stadium.  The move will take place next year to allow the 
stadium renovation to proceed.

The Office of Housing, Food Services and Event Centers 
selected Mack Hall as the most suitable location for the 
scholarship program.  The renovation will provide program space 
and will bring the facility into compliance with the Americans 
with Disabilities Act, including providing access to Kennedy 
Commons.  The total cost of this phase of the project is $3.9 
million, with a portion funded by the Department of Athletics for 
the stadium project.  Other funding will come from Housing, Food 
Services and Event Centers.

Trustees also awarded construction contracts for several 
major capital projects that are improving the face and fabric of 
the campus, adding major new buildings and renovating others.

The Heart and Lung Institute will be a new six-story 
facility to concentrate in a single location the resources 
necessary to conduct an intensive program of teaching and 
research in the diseases of the heart and lungs.  Located at the 
former site of Upham Hall on West 12th Avenue, the $23.9 million 
project is being funded by the state, University Hospitals and 
bond proceeds, with debt service being paid by University 
Hospitals.  The expected completion date is October 1999.

The $10 million Success Center will be built at the site of 
the former Neil Hall.  The new 60,000-square-foot building will 
house academic athletic support offices and study spaces, 
counseling and consultation services and a student learning 
center.  Funding for the multidisciplinary project is provided by 
the state, the university's office of Housing, Food Services and 
Event Centers and departments of Athletics and Physical 
Facilities, and bond proceeds.  The completion date is May 1999.

Trustees had joined university officials as strong advocates 
of the Success Center project because of its multidisciplinary 
nature and student focus, said Jill Morelli, university 
architect.  In keeping with recommendations articulated in the 
university's master planning and development document, offices 
will be located on the second and third floors, and retail space 
will be on the first-floor level facing Neil Avenue.

The $8.7 million Longaberger Alumni House will be built 
along the Olentangy River, north of Lane Avenue and south of the 
Fawcett Center.  The three-story building is designed to meet the 
growing needs of the Alumni Association, Morelli said.  The 
project is being funded by gifts to the association, led by a 
recent $2 million donation from the Longaberger Foundation.  The 
expected completion date is August 1999.

At Stillman Hall, a four-story addition will expand the 
College of Social Work Library, provide classrooms, and will 
consolidate all of the college's departments, auxiliary services 
and offices in one building.  The bulk of funding for the $5.3 
million project is coming from the state.  The project is 
expected to be completed by September 1999.

On the Marion campus, a $1.7 million facility is needed to 
accommodate maintenance, receiving and storage operations.  The 
state and Marion Technical College are paying for the project.

Several renovation projects also will improve the student 
experience.  At Hale Hall, space vacated by the Life Care 
Alliance will be renovated for use as classrooms, computer 
laboratories and offices to support minority students and 
programs.  The $1 million cost is being paid by the state.  Work 
will be completed by March 1999.  At Baker Hall, a south campus 
residence, $6.8 million will be spent to bring electrical and 
plumbing systems up to current code and upgrade finishes and 
furnishings in the lobby areas.  Funding will be provided through 
the sale of bonds, with debt service paid by Housing, Food 
Services and Event Centers.  The project should be completed by 
September 2000.  Renovated rooms at the radiology facility of the 
Veterinary Hospital will house a fluoroscopy unit and CT Scanner.  
Funding for the $1.2 million project is coming from the state, 
the College of Veterinary Medicine and a grant from the Ohio 
Board of Regents.  Work will be finished in September.

Trustees hear report on Olentangy River district

Trustees heard a report on the university's Olentangy River 
Corridor District Plan, the latest in a series of documents that 
examines planning and development in each of the diverse areas 
that make up The Ohio State University.

The area is bounded generally by King Avenue on the south 
and the university's Wetland Research Park on the north, and 
encompasses the Olentangy River and the land just east and west 
of the river.

Much of the area is part of what is called the university's 
Green Reserve, which is contiguous undeveloped land including the 
riverfront, the Oval, Mirror Lake Hollow, Chadwick Arboretum and 
Waterman Farm.  The university's 1995 guiding development 
outline, the Long-Range Concept Master Plan, called for 
preserving and enhancing the green spaces indefinitely and 
recommended ways the campus should develop around the open land.

"The district plan recommends that the river corridor serve 
as a natural feature connecting to other significant open spaces 
on the campus," said Jill Morelli, university architect.  "The 
river is envisioned as the unifying feature between the 
established core of the campus and the expansion of development 
west of the river, including the research and academic buildings 
in the midwest campus and the Jerome Schottenstein Center and 
parking in the Olentangy Plains area."

In addition to the open space, the plan focuses on 
landscaping and pedestrian and bicycle circulation.  It suggests 
a "River of Trees," a landscaped pathway from the river near the 
Drake Union to Mirror Lake Hollow, and a second pathway from the 
river to the Oval.  The plan also recommends a number of 
pedestrian bridges to improve access to such areas as the Jerome 
Schottenstein Center and the Longaberger Alumni House, and the 
agriculture campus across from the Drake Union.  At Lane Avenue, 
a new soon-to-be-constructed bridge will be designed as a main 
gateway into the campus.

"The plan identifies a series of special places along the 
river corridor where the active life of the university should 
connect to the river," Morelli said.  "Some of these special 
places are urban in character, including the Health Sciences 
riverfront, the Drake Union area, and the riverfront at the 
French Field House and St. John Arena.  These places, which are 
located south of Lane Avenue near the heart of the university, 
are envisioned as civic open spaces that accommodate social 
interaction along riverfront terraces, overlooks, stairs and 
seating areas.  Other places will offer settings for cultural and 
recreational activities, such as outdoor music, picnics and 
boating."

North of Lane Avenue, the plan recommends maintaining the 
area's more natural character, with meadows, wetlands and wooded 
areas framing the river's edge.  Along the length of the 
corridor, the plan recommends improving and extending pedestrian 
and bicycle paths to ensure continuous access along the 
riverfront.

A pedestrian and bicycle path already extends along the top 
of the levee between King and Lane avenues, and continues north 
through the city's Tuttle Park.  The Columbus Department of 
Recreation and Parks has agreed to extend the trail, which will 
cross the river near Dodridge Street, pass through the Wetland 
Research Park, and cross back to the east bank of the river north 
of the Olentangy Village residential area.

Some building is proposed close to the river's edge, most 
notably the Longaberger Alumni House, which will be just north of 
Lane Avenue.  At the Drake Union and along Cannon Drive, 
improvements are proposed to make the area more hospitable and 
welcoming, Morelli said.

Other development for the area is proposed in a previous 
district master plan for the south campus and is restated in the 
river plan.  River's edge buildings in this Health Sciences area 
will incorporate parking on lower levels -- so that the first 
floors are elevated at least to the top of the levee -- because 
the area lies within a 100-year flood plain.  Two highway ramps 
and bridges connecting the Health Sciences area to state Route 
315 have been planned for many years and also are incorporated 
into the river corridor and south campus district plans.

Planning for the river corridor at Ohio State was done in 
conjunction with the Columbus Riverfront Vision Plan, undertaken 
by the Riverfront Commons Corp.  That plan encompasses the land 
around the Olentangy and Scioto rivers from state Route 104 on 
the city's south side to the university's Wetland Research Park 
on the north.

"The creation of the Riverfront Commons Corp. and the city's 
commitment to explore the potential of the entire nine-mile 
corridor of the Olentangy and Scioto rivers presented an 
opportunity for Ohio State to build upon the Columbus Riverfront 
Vision Plan and prepare a district plan for the university's 
portion of this corridor," Morelli said.

Miscellaneous business

In other business, trustees:

-- Granted easements to Ohio Edison Co. for electric 
transmission lines to serve the Farm Science Review buildings at 
the Molly Caren Agricultural Center, and to the Columbus and 
Southern Ohio Electric Co. to serve university property at 2470 
North Star Ave.

-- Approved 173 contracts totaling $12.4 million for 
research projects funded in May.

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Contact: Jill Morelli, university architect, 614-292-4458.

Written by Dave Bhaerman, University Communications, 
614-292-8422.