7-10-98 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. # Contact: Jill Morelli, university architect, 614-292-4458. Written by Dave Bhaerman, University Communications, 614-292-8422.