Since the beginning of the fall semester, construction around campus has been evident. Two projects on Colorado State University’s campus were the roof and event center at Allison Hall and the freight elevator reconstruction at the Lory Student Center.
Allison Hall has been under construction since orientation week. Residents and passersby have seen scaffolding, red tape and construction workers on all weekdays.
“The primary ongoing construction project at Allison Hall is for a roof replacement,” Assistant Director of Communication for Housing & Dining Services Sarah Maronn said. “The building was slated to be offline for the summer. A record-setting amount of rain and moisture over the summer and up to move-in created setbacks to that timeline and pushed the project into the fall semester.”
“I think that construction is beneficial in the long run,” said Erin Brothers, a current resident of Allison Hall. “Right now, it’s a little annoying that there’s caution tape everywhere. Personally, it hasn’t affected me that much — they had one of the doors blocked earlier this week, but my roommate hates it because of the banging at 7 a.m.”
This construction at Allison Hall was requested in 2022 by Colorado State University because the building is “mostly original,” according to the Request for Proposals, and was the second oldest dorm currently on campus. Housing and Dining Services has slowly been working through the 2014 Master Plan and its high priority for “repairing and renovating existing obsolete space.”
“The improvements made in this project, with a budget of $3.6 million, include a new roof, new furniture in all resident rooms, new flooring in some rooms and along west wing hallways as well as renovation of the former kitchen into a facility warehouse,” Maronn said.
However, Allison Hall is one of many construction sites on campus. Walking through the first floor of the LSC, a large black tarp fills the hallways. It is for the small freight elevator in the LSC and is for “essential services of the Lory Student Center,” said Mike Ellis, executive director of the LSC.
“Those elevators were installed in 1962, and it’s what we’re working with when we have an aging facility,” Ellis said. “You’re talking pistons that support the elevator. It’s an entire overhead elevator upgrade at a cost of approximately $700,000 for both elevators.”
Employees of the LSC use the freight elevators to move around chairs, goods and larger items that cannot fit in the building’s conventional elevators. The construction impacts traffic throughout the hallway but will soon move to the other freight elevator.
“It is a challenge for our staff,” Ellis said. “That’s why we didn’t take them both out at the same time and the construction will finish in December of this year.” Workers are starting with the larger elevator.
As for the prospected finish of both projects, the event space at Allison Hall was expected to be finished in September; however, the delays have pushed both projects into the first week of November.
The freight elevator in the LSC should be finished around December to clear up the walkway.
Reach Liv Sewell at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @CSUCollegian.
