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January 10, 2012

This winter, three construction projects have been in progress on campus.  The most well-known is the ongoing work on the brand-new, multimillion dollar, 119,000 square foot Student Activities Center expected to be completed by the Fall 2013 semester.  Construction of the new complex, originally scheduled to start in 2009, but delayed due to the economic slowdown that year, began at the end of the Spring 2011 semester with the Rathskeller’s “last call” on April 29 and the razing of the famous bar’s old location the next day.  Commencement of construction on the new complex was made possible by an advance gift in the amount of $20 million made on behalf of the Fairholme Foundation by donors Bruce and Tracey Berkowitz, who have requested that the new center be named after current university president Donna Shalala.

Elsewhere on campus, Pavia Garage is undergoing an expansion to help alleviate pressures related to a new color-coded parking permit scheme adopted at the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year.  It is as of yet unclear whether the expansion, which will add two stories and 307 parking spaces to the garage, will be done before the beginning of the Spring 2012 semester, which officially starts January 17th.  The McKnight Building at the corner of San Amaro Drive and Ponce de Leon Boulevard is also undergoing a facelift this break, with renovations expected to be completed during the Spring semester.

1. Pavia Garage – A crane lifts a concrete support up to the top of Pavia Garage.  The garage is undergoing a two-story expansion, expected to be completed by early 2012.

2. Sidewalk Closed – The sidewalk along the west side of San Amaro Drive near the corner of Ponce Boulevard is closed to pedestrians as workers renovate the McKnight Building.

3. McKnight Building – A wider shot of ongoing renovations of the McKnight Building from the corner of Ponce de Leon Boulevard and San Amaro Drive.

4. New Student Center Panorama – A panoramic shot of Lake Osceola and ongoing construction at the site of the old Rathskeller, where the new Student Activities Center is expected to open by Fall 2013.

5. Student Center Construction – Two construction workers unload industrial resin from the top of an unfinished column.  The crane at the site of the Pavia Garage construction is pictured in the background of this image.

6. Carpentry – A construction worker uses power tools to saw wood at the site of the future Student Activities Center, slated for completion in August 2013.