Regents to consider four University of Iowa building designs next week

The building designs on four major University of Iowa projects will go to the state Board of Regents next week for approval, signaling the final board green light to proceed with construction, according to meeting information released Thursday.

UI officials will take designs, project descriptions and budgets to the regents at a meeting Wednesday in Iowa City on four projects, three of them related to flood recovery on campus: the $176 million Hancher Auditorium replacement; the $152 million School of Music replacement; the $77.3 million Art Building replacement; and the new $53.4 million west campus residence hall.

The regents last month saw initial design concepts on the three flood-recovery projects, but did not vote on them.

Hancher Auditorium will have total capacity of 1,800 seats, with two balconies. The facility will also house theater operations and administrative staff offices. Functions formerly housed in the Voxman Music Building, including the scene shop, costume shop and performing arts production unit offices, are also included in the project. The new Hancher will be built in a green space to the east and south of the Levitt Center and to the north of the existing Hancher Voxman Clapp Complex. The project will be bid in multiple bid packages with the first package scheduled to start this summer. All construction is scheduled to be completed in December of 2015.

The new School of Music Building, at the southwest corner of Burlington and Clinton streets in downtown Iowa City, will house a 700-seat concert hall, a 200-seat recital hall, an organ performance hall, a music library, rehearsal and practice rooms, classrooms, and faculty studio and administrative offices. The project will be bid in multiple bid packages with the first package anticipated in September 2013, with construction complete in August 2016.

For the Art Building replacement, construction is scheduled to begin in the spring of 2013, with completion during the summer of 2016. It will house all the programs previously housed within the Art Building complex that was damaged by the 2008 flood, as well as the School of Art and Art History graduate painting program currently located at 109 River St. The building will be constructed on university land directly adjacent to and northwest of Art Building West, which also houses School of Art and Art History programs.

The three flood-replacement buildings will be funded with a combination of flood insurance proceeds, funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, academic building revenue bond proceeds and university gifts and earnings.

The new west campus residence hall will provide housing for 501 freshman and returning students within a 10-floor structure. The project also includes a two-story public area with gathering space, study/teamwork space, and a grab-and-go food service to serve students residing in the new hall and the other halls on the west side of the river. The new hall will be constructed between Rienow and Hillcrest residence halls, just west of Byington Road and north of Grand Avenue.

The new residence hall is expected to open in fall 2015. Rate increases for students in the residence halls in excess of the annual inflationary cost increases (currently estimated at 3 percent) of 2.5 percent in fiscal years 2014 and 2015, and 1 percent in fiscal 2016 are proposed to finance a portion of the additional debt service for the new residence hall.