Though summer term is usually not as busy as the rest of the academic year at BYU-Hawaii, it seems various parts of the campus have been under construction for the past several months.
BYU-Hawaii Physical Plant Director Judd Whetten agreed. "Our focus is to get these projects done during the summer when it has less of an impact on students and faculty."
For example, Whetten pointed out that a new parking lot behind the Stake Center was completed about a month ago, and a two-to-three-month project to replace some sidewalks, curbs and gutters, and to repave some of the roads "is really making a mess at the moment. We've widened some of the sidewalks, improved the drainage a bit, and replaced some of the older sections."
"We're going to start paving in about two weeks," he added. "That will take about a week, and then the project will be complete."
Whetten said renovations to the Ballroom are also complete, but work on the rest of the Aloha Center will stretch into September, including paint, carpets, lights, doors and some new ceiling work. "We started on the classrooms in there during the first part of the summer, so we're hopeful all of them will be complete before school starts. So far, it's gone fairly well, but construction doesn't always go as smoothly as hoped."
For example, he said the project to install a large new computer center in the library "is kind of stalled" because it "took a long time to find exactly what we needed there" for sub-floor wiring.
Whetten said the university's new front entrance project is essentially done, with just new lights left to install in the low wall fronting Naniloa Loop. "The university may also plant some more palm trees behind the new rock wall, and some around the big circle, but none of these are big projects," he added.
"We're also repainting the Old Gym, inside and out, which will be done before school starts; and over by Laie Elementary school we're building three duplexes for faculty housing, but they won't finish up until May 2006, so that's a ways down the road."
Still looking forward, Whetten said the university has also submitted permit applications to put up "three more married student housing buildings, each containing eight two-bedroom units. Hopefully, we'll be able to start those in October, if we have our permits by then."
And when those are done, there will probably be something else, said Whetten, noting that construction, renovations and maintenance are "an ongoing challenge. With the environment we have here — the rust and salt corrosion, there's always something that needs to be looked at. Remember, some of the main campus buildings were started 50 years ago in 1955."
"In the meantime, we appreciate everybody's patience while we renew the campus," he said.