The SRU Campus Success Center was set to unveil before fall semester started but has yet to open its doors. While it’s unclear exactly when the building will open, there is hope it will be ready by the end of winter break.
The Rocket reached out to Associate Vice President for Facilities, Environmental Safety and Sustainability, Scott Albert, for an interview about the state of construction. We were referred to University Marketing & Communications, who collaborated with Albert on a statement.
“We’re excited to open the new Campus Success Center and what this renovated facility will mean for our students, faculty and staff,” the statement said.
“The project is almost entirely finished but because of unanticipated delays with the construction and final inspections, the University has not received its occupancy permit. We are working diligently to resolve the matter so that we can determine a specific open date.”
Assistant Vice President for Career Academic Progress, John Rindy, said the delay is related to the fact that student health services will be in this new building.
“Whenever you have a building with a medical facility in it, you have to have a generator because you can’t have a health center suddenly lose power,” Rindy said.
He claimed the university initially planned to install a diesel generator, but this would call for additional testing. So, they opted for a natural gas generator.
“The problem is, that building never had natural gas in it, so they’ve got to put a natural gas line in,” Rindy said. “You can’t just go digging in the ground…they will scan the ground with ground penetrating radar to make sure we don’t disrupt other services on campus.”
Rindy believes the university plans to dig a natural gas trench from Vincent Science Center down to the Campus Success Center. The center is located where the student union once was.
“It’s probably going to be, I think they said, another six to eight weeks…I don’t know what order they will move everybody over and if they can get that all done in a month,” he said. “I’m not saying that they can’t, I’m just saying I don’t know.”
Rindy said communication from the university to faculty has been “great.” He is excited to move into the space and believes students will appreciate it as well.
“Lots of beautiful open space, lighting is really innovative and cool…[offices] are all centralized, so it’ll be really nice and super efficient.”
The Campus Success Center will be home to eight services, including the SRU counseling center, Rock Pantry +, Office of Disability Services and more.
