By Peter Lim
Staff Writer
Joe McGurn, executive director of Physical Plant, discussed the plans for construction at Franciscan University of Steubenville.
“One of the major areas everyone will see as they come onto campus is the construction of Christ the Teacher Academic and Event Center,” said McGurn.
“The building is being built by RyCon Construction and is expected to be operational in August 2024. RyCon Construction is a company from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and the architectural design team is MCF Architecture who are also from Pittsburgh,” said McGurn.
According to McGurn, one of the changes will be moving the enrollment services out of Starvaggi Hall into Christ the Teacher by March 2024, specifically to ground floor under the Events space.
In addition to being the new location for enrollment services, the new building will also contain different levels for various academic areas.
“The ground floor will be for the engineering program, the first floor will be for the business department, and then the top floor of the academic portion will be for the nursing department,” said McGurn.
Christ the Teacher is supposed to have dedicated space for events and conferences.
“Above the enrollment center there will be Event Center seating for 500 people, which will be available for conferences, weekend symposiums, talent shows and concerts,” explained McGurn.
About the construction at Blsd. Solanus Casey Hall, McGurn said, “The outdoor sports court, pickleball court, basketball court and road relocation should finish by mid-November … Thanksgiving.”
“The open space by the sidewalk from Casey Hall to the parking lot by Vianney Hall and the Print Center will be grated out and relandscaped. We will have some permanent lighting to put in before mid-November,” said McGurn.
McGurn also discussed the construction on the rugby field, saying, “A storage space is being built on the far end (of the rugby field) for storage for the rugby and track and field team.”
McGurn said that the water retention area will remain as is since “it provides the majority of storm water retention for the campus.”
Some of the other areas McGurn said were developed are “the sidewalk built between parking lot H towards the Friary, the one in front of St. Francis going towards the cafeteria and some going around Egan Hall. Paving work was done around Assisi Heights and the Main West entrance.”
McGurn said that all the construction is expected to conclude in June 2024, followed by moving furniture and relevant operations in August 2024.
McGurn said that plans for a new dorm “is under discussion, especially with the board meeting in October, but we are looking through several options right now. No decisions have been made yet.”