Posted December 18, 200915 yr I was given the opportunity to tour the Xavier University Hoff Quad construction project as an employee on December 17. I've included renderings and photographs from yesterday. Xaiver University Xavier University is a private Jesuit liberal-arts university in Cincinnati, Ohio with a current enrollment of 4,000 undergraduate students and 2,600 graduate students. The Xavier University campus is approximately 125 acres large and features two central malls, and several notable structures, including the Gallagher Student Center, which includes dining options, a bank and student support services. The Hoff Academic Quad is a 9.5-acre quad that will feature over 170,000 square feet of new academic space, under construction along Ledgewood Drive. The Quad will feature three new facilities: the Conaton Learning Commons, a complex for the Williams College of Business and a central utility plant. It also includes 12 acres of site improvements, such as landscaping and fountains, and a large open space bearing the name of James E. Hoff, S.J., 33rd president of Xavier. Stairs leading from the existing academic mall to the Quad will be named St. Ignatius Steps. The $115 million project was funded through the "To See Great Wonders" capital campaign and a bond issue. Conaton Learning Commons The new 84,453 Conaton Learning Commons is a five-level academic structure being constructed within the Hoff Academic Quad. It will open in the summer of 2010. The new Commons will feature a 200-seat auditorium, three classrooms, academic labs, individual study rooms, a computer and digital media lab, academic advising centers, honors seminar room and 66 offices. Initial rendering on the left, with the curved building looking northwest. An earlier rendering showing more of the then-proposed Quad project. Xavier Square at this time was proposed. Dana Avenue runs west-east and is being upgraded in 2010-2011 into a boulevard with a landscaped median and bike lanes. Ledgewood will end mid-point and traffic to Herald Avenue will be detoured around via a traffic circle and a new boulevard. November 3, 2009 December 17, 2009 at sunset. The following are from the same date. These houses will be demolished in early 2010 for a pedestrian plaza and fountain. A large bank of windows, three-stories high, floods the Learning Commons with natural light. This wall will be punched through on Saturday to connect to the existing library. More photographs available at the article above. Williams College of Business The new Williams College of Business is a four-level state-of-the-art classroom and support facility being constructed within the Xavier University Hoff Academic Quad. It will open in the summer of 2010. The new 88,123 square feet structure will feature a trading room with computer terminals featuring Bloomberg financial database and Reuters Station capabilities, 18 classrooms, 17 project workrooms, multimedia centers, study rooms, computer labs, 110 faculty and staff offices, executive conference rooms, and dedicated facilities for the Cintas Center for Business Ethics and the Sedler Family Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. It will also be host to three executives-in-residence suites. This is the building on the lower right. November 3, 2009 Large, natural-lit lobby. Classroom. Looking towards the future stock trading center. More photographs available at the article above. New residence hall and dining facility On December 11, 2009, the Xavier University Board of Trustees approved construction of a new residence hall and dining facility. The proposed residence hall would house approximately 535 students in suites, while the dining facility would have a capacity of 800. The new dining hall would replace the current dining facility at the Cintas Center, and would be located in the core of Xavier's campus at Ledgewood and Herald. Construction on the new residence hall could begin in early 2010 when four houses at Ledgewood and Herald are demolished.
December 18, 200915 yr Good for Xavier! "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
December 19, 200915 yr Looking good! I thought Xavier was a little bigger than 4,000 undergrad, though. I wish they would expand enrollment a little so they could have more of an impact on the surrounding neighborhoods. Other than the campus, it would be nearly impossible to tell there is a major university in the area.
December 20, 200915 yr Wow, very nice! It's amazing how much the campus has changed since I graduated in 1998.
December 20, 200915 yr Jesus Christ why are they demolishing those last houses? Real downtowns and a real college campuses need small buildings as much as it needs big ones. Ohio University has over a dozen 19th century homes in use by various departments and that's a primary reason why it has one of the best campuses in America.
December 20, 200915 yr Looking good! I thought Xavier was a little bigger than 4,000 undergrad, though. I wish they would expand enrollment a little so they could have more of an impact on the surrounding neighborhoods. Other than the campus, it would be nearly impossible to tell there is a major university in the area. Well, as said in the numbers, it's not a major university (that'd be UC). It's a small school in the under 10,000 category. Though I do agree it'd be nice to see more spinoff. There should be enough students to make that happen. Small size does not have to mean lack of college town environment. Don't quote me on this. The goal is to keep enrollment steadily rising but not to the point where major new infrastructure is needed after the construction of our new residence hall. The next (unnamed) campaign is going to be focused more so on improving scholarship access and academics rather than building capital, as the See Great Wonders campaign did. We had record enrollment this year and as a result, we had to triple bunk people in dorms. We are holding out on the reconstruction of Alter Hall for a few years so that we can get the new dorm built. It generates revenue. A new classroom building doesn't. You'll see some news on the East Campus next year too. -- Jesus Christ why are they demolishing those last houses? Real downtowns and a real college campuses need small buildings as much as it needs big ones. Ohio University has over a dozen 19th century homes in use by various departments and that's a primary reason why it has one of the best campuses in America. From what I read off of the statements they read out at these meetings, Xavier never had a "front" that was accessible or visible until now. If you notice, there is a (lack of) investment in west campus -- west of Victory Parkway. The buildings are psychologically removed from most of campus because few classes are held over there, and there is a nasty hill climb that few want to do. The O'Connor Sports Center is due in for an expansion, and it was supposed to be relocated over at Xavier Square -- now called East Campus. That's on hold. And you can't park or easily access campus from Victory Parkway. A small sign but the buildings are set so high on the hill. And if you pass by it on Dana, you only catch a brief glimpse of the academic mall and Schott Tower -- and that's really it. You have to travel on the back streets to see the campus. With the new Dana Avenue boulevard improvements, with bike lanes, a landscaped median and the construction of a new gateway at Ledgewood, Xavier will have a new prominent entrance. Here is what is in the pipeline: * New dormitory at Ledgewood and Herald, with a dining hall to replace the one at Cintas. * Demolition of the houses on Ledgewood and Herald for the above and to complete the plaza. * Demolition of that lone vacant house at Herald and Dana (Herald used to extend through the heart of campus, but is now an academic mall). The city will reconstruct Dana through that house, eliminating that nasty curve and improve sight distances -- especially for those that cross there. IIRC, a traffic signal is in the works for the hill for pedestrians. * Xavier now owns the former auto parts at Ledgewood and Dana, and will be used as offices for a few years. It's only temporary -- it will eventually be demolished for campus expansion. Some miss the houses, others don't. They were not ADA accessible, and were cramped and inefficient. They needed a lot of work, and most were built between 1920 and 1925, and haven't been renovated or overhauled in decades. There wasn't much purpose to keeping them -- can't be used as dormitories without a lot of work and the ROR just didn't make it feasible. Can't be used as new classroom space -- non-ADA accessible. And the office functions are relocatable. The campus expansion maps of ten years ago showed all of those houses being demolished, so it's not really new news.
December 30, 200915 yr Nice development. I had no idea Xavier was such a small enrollment. Any plans for growth in the near future?
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