The Board of Visitors (BOV) approved plans in various stages of completion that will add $300 million worth of new buildings to campus. The four new buildings, three expansions and one renovation will add space for sciences, sports, services and administration.
Locals who are geeked up about UVA’s “other” sports—soccer, lacrosse and baseball—can cheer additions to Klockner Stadium and Davenport Field. While part of the justification is to pump up recruiting, the Klockner expansion might end up pleasing the wealthy primarily—much of the new space will be devoted to box seats and possibly suites, if the $2.5 million needed for them can be raised privately. It comes at the expense of the parents who let the little ones play on the hill, which in the future will house the fat-walleted fanatics.
Klockner Stadium looks to gain box seats and a new dressing room, but it will lose a hill where the children play during games.
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UVA’s trying to please an even more select crowd with three new science buildings, each at around 100,000 gross square feet. The University has decided that if it is going to push some science departments into the top five worldwide, it must have the buildings to bag the top profs. To pay for much of these buildings, UVA will use debt financing—an option that comes from the charter restructuring done to increase the University’s autonomy from the state.
Almost reluctantly, the BOV opted to renovate a historic Rugby Road building that once housed faculty but has long sat vacant. Now only a part of the basement is used for temporary architecture faculty office space while Campbell Hall is being renovated.
Though the exterior looks good enough, with your typical white columns and red brick, the interior is apparently a nightmare. “All things being equal, I’d be in favor of finding a way to knock the building down,” President John Casteen told the Building and Grounds Committee on October 4. “…The best idea would be if a tornado came along. That’s not likely.”
University Architect David Neuman said it’s more cost effective to renovate it rather than build something new on the site, though board member Dan Abramson noted the “mind-boggling” cost of up to $800 per square foot.
New UVA building projects
| Project | Adds | Estimated cost (in millions) | Location |
| Information Technology Engineering Building | 100,000 sq. ft. | $76 | Stadium Road |
| Ivy Translational Research Center | 110,000 sq. ft. | $93 | Fontaine Research Park |
| Physical/Life Sciences Facility | 100,000 sq. ft. | $89 | McCormick Road |
| ITC Data Center | 12,500 sq. ft. | $13 | Old Ivy Road |
| Print Services Building expansion | 15,000 sq. ft. | $3 | Old Ivy Road |
| Rugby Administrative Building renovation | 24,900 sq. ft. | $16-$20 | Rugby Road |
| Klockner Stadium expansion | More seats, new locker rooms | $13 | Massie Road |
| Baseball Stadium expansion | More seats | $3 | Massie Road |
Sources: BOV materials, Architect for the University website
Also: Read "Faculty comment on future report" from this issue
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