THE UNIVERSITY DARY KANSAN
TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2008
NEWS
》 CONSTRUCTION
3A
Summer upgrades slated for Towers Renovations at campus apartment complex take precedence over GSP
Renovation for Jayhawker Tower A has been moved up from next year to this summer. The renovations include new plumbing, wiring, furniture and appliances, and will cost an estimated $8.1 million.
BY CALEB SOMMERVILLE
csommerville@kansan.com
Jayhawker Tower A will be renovated, starting this summer. It will be closed for the 2008-2009 school year.
The renovation, which was scheduled to happen after GSP Hall, was moved up a year.
Diana Robertson, director of student housing, said that it was in the long-term plan to renovate the Towers, but the plan was accelerated because the student housing was able to do so.
"We are eager to move forward," Robertson said. "Ultimately, what we're going to do is get the facilities improved and improve our options for KU students."
Robertson said that the renovations to Tower A will include the "less glitzy stuff," including all-new plumbing, wiring, cable and Internet lines.
The standard and instantly-recognizable brick walls will be
filled in with drywall, and the lighting will be enhanced.
The furniture and appliances will be new as well.
The renovations will cost $8.1 million and will be paid with state funds.
No structural walls will be removed, and the layout of the apartments will remain the same. Gutting the building, or tearing out all the old wiring, plumbing and other infrastructure, will begin this summer and continue into the fall.
After gutting and bidding for architects and builders, the actual renovation will begin in the winter.
The accelerated project was due in part to the Men's Basketball team winning the NCAA National Championship. Self had said in some press conferences that he wanted the University to attract other good players.
"Coach Self speaking of that accelerates it without a doubt,"
Robertson said.
She said that Self's desire to see enhanced facilities "happily coincides" with housing's desire to renovate.
When Tower A is opened, athletes will definitely live in it. Robertson said.
Robertson said that housing would work with the Jayhawker Towers Tenant Association next fall to decide who would live in Tower A.
After Tower A has been renovated, GSP will be next in line. Corbin, the other girls-only residence hall, will not be completely renovated. It will be "restored," due to the historic nature of the building.
After GSP is finished, Towers B, D and C will be renovated, in that order. Since Tower A housed mainly graduate students and is open year-round, not as much work has been done to keep it up as on the other Towers. The order is based off of how much work
has been done since they opened.
The Jayhawker Towers were built in 1967 by the real estate branch of Phillips Petroleum Company. Stanley Yearned, the CEO at the time, was a University of Kansas graduate with a degree in civil engineering.
The University bought the Towers in 1981.
No major overhaul has been done since they opened in 1967 under the Phillips Petroleum Company.
Students who were assigned to live in Tower A next year will be dispersed to other Towers and have been notified.
"We'll work very hard to make this a minimal disruption to folks." Robertson said.
Tower B, which has been girls only, will now house grad students on the two lower floors.
-Edited by Mandy Earles
CAMPUS
Damaged cable causes apartment tech outage
BY CALEB SOMMERVILLE csoommerville@kansan.com
Residents of Stouffer Place Apartments have been without phone or data service for about three weeks.
Bill Myers, director of information services, said that a cable that was underground for a while and was damaged several times because of construction was responsible for the outage.
The cable was spliced and repaired several times, and some of the splices failed when water seeped through the outer casing.
Some parts of the cable were replaced entirely, and the new cable was expected to go "online" on Monday.
Diana Robertson, director of student housing, said that the University did everything it could to help residents. She said the Burge Union computer lab was made available to all Stouffer Place residents, and residents
were encouraged to bring their children.
Stouffer Place houses non-traditional and married students.
The University also made 27 cell phones with prepaid minutes available. Robertson said that a month's service would be refunded to residents affected.
Residents were kept up to date through fliers on their doors four different times during the month.
Myers said that although residents will not be charged for April, it will not show up on the bill until May 21.
"Nobody likes being without service, but we've tried to provide some alternatives," Myers said.
Myers said that he has heard mostly gratitude from Stouffer Place residents for what the University was doing.
Edited by Nick Mangiaracina
NATURAL DISASTER California wildfire leads 1,000 to flee homes
SIERRA MADRE, Calif.——
are being used in the darkness."
Wildfire burning in foothills near Los Angeles sends at least 1,000 residents fleeing.
Darkness didn't keep firefighters from continuing to gain ground Monday on a 400-acre wildfire they have been battling all weekend near Los Angeles.
It just meant a change in tactics.
"The hand crews are still making progress against the flanks of the fire;" Cliff Johnson, fire information officer for the Angeles National Forest, said early Monday. "(But) no aircraft
All of Sierra Madre's schools have canceled Monday classes, and the early season wildfire forced the evacuation of at least 1,000 people from their homes in the foothills. Authorities said no homes have burned.
About 500 firefighters attacked the blaze, aided during the daytime by two helicopters and water-dropping air tankers, said city of Sierra Madre spokeswoman Elisa Weaver.
"This is pretty serious," Weaver said. "Some of these areas have not burned in over 40 years."
Associated Press
1 Riverfront Plaza, Suite 301 Lawrence, KS 66044 Pricing effective June, 2nd.
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