A Jeffersonian colonnade and new seating section have rendered Scott Stadium almost unrecognizable as its massive construction project remains on target to open by next season.
As well as staying on schedule, the project has successfully remained within its $86 million budget, Laurence said. Although the expansion was projected to cost $50 million in 1998, the budget has expanded gradually to the current numbers.
Construction crews have made significant progress in the Presidential and press boxes as well as the 44 luxury suites, parking garage, fences and gates, said Richard Laurence, director of the Carl Smith Center Expansion at Scott Stadium. Advances also have been made in the construction of the pergola, the arrangement of large white columns along Alderman Road.
The stadium's seating area, which used to accommodate about 45,000 spectators, will be enlarged to 61,500 seats and "we expect to be able to fill them all," Laurence said.
The stadium "should all be ready in late August, in time for the first game on Sept. 2," he said. But the final completion of landscaping, the north-wing seating section and the parking garage will not be finished by that time, he added.
Among the improvements in the expansion project will be 30,000 square feet of new space in the entirely re-built Bryant Hall. The space will house University Career Services (formerly the Office of Career Planning and Placement), a ticketing office, a recruiting and athletic development office and a football memorabilia museum.
After "one whole year of reorganizing the office and restructuring the staff," UCS is ready for the move, said Angela Wooten, UCS assistant director of business operations.
UCS aims to move in by late August in order to open by the time classes start, but the move may take place as late as fall break.
"The stadium will allow us to have 30 luxury suites for employer interviews," Wooten said. UCS now has only 14 interview rooms, and interviews are scattered around Grounds.
The new facilities also will provide a state-of-the-art resource center designed to accommodate large groups of students and a specially designed technology lab with up to 16 PCs for online career resource instruction.
Also, UCS workers hope their new location will be more easily accessible, as its new location is on a bus route and there will be parking provided for students and employers.
Laurence said some community members still are lodging complaints about the stadium construction, but expansion organizers are making an effort to appease the neighbors.
In response to complaints about the ugliness of a large concrete wall, landscapers have planted three types of ivy and holly bushes to beautify the area and will plant a row of trees in the fall, Laurence said.
Some first-year students have complained that construction noise is annoying, said Rich Davis, first-year College student and Fitzhugh resident.
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