Construction of a new parking garage is slated to be complete by fall of 2014. (Photo/Logan Kirkland)
All-American Drive is clogged with cars patiently waiting to go around construction. This is now a commonplace view for those familiar with Ole Miss campus. The construction has been occurring on the university for the past few years with its scope reaching from the new dorms Ridge North and Ridge South to the Union. This summer there are two major projects for campus remodel: a parking garage and a basketball arena.
The construction for each campus improvement project occurred in two phases. The parking garage’s first phase began in December. Its second phase is the construction occurring this summer. It began in March just after spring break and is expected to be completed this September according to Ian Banner, director of facilities planning for The University of Mississippi.
Banner also serves as the university’s architect and chose a design for the parking garage.
“We consider the context of the surrounding architecture and determine how new buildings will fit into the architectural fabric of the UM campus,” Banner said. “One way of doing this is to include elements in the new buildings that echo existing details on existing buildings.”
The new parking garage is expected to utilize space to combat parking overcrowding on campus.
“The structure is five levels so I suppose you could say it accommodates 800 vehicles on the surface area where only 160 could be,” Banner said.
However there were sacrifices for the parking garage construction.
“It isn’t that simple,” Banner said. “We are moving Hill Drive to the west, removing a football practice field and reworking existing parking spaces to build the parking structure. The final design solution attempts to use the space around the new structure as efficiently as possible.”
The students and faculty will have access to the five-level parking garage in the fall semester. Mike Harris, director of parking and transportation, has planned how the parking garage spaces will be divided between students and faculty.
According to him, the garage has 823 spaces, of which 500 will be paid for hourly. Harris estimated the timed spaces will be sold at a rate of two dollars for the first hour and one dollar for each additional hour which can add up to ten dollars for a 24 hour period. The 323 remaining spots will be reserved for annual permits.
“The garage will have credit card access only on the timed spaces,” Harris said. “The remaining spaces will be offered to faculty and staff at $500 annually. If they do not fill the garage we will offer the remaining spaces to graduate assistants then to seniors then to juniors, on down the line.”
Harris said that when the garage opens the department of parking and transportation will designate some of the surface faculty and staff parking based on the number of spaces sold to commuter parking, but for the garage it is first come first served.
“There will not be any assigned spaces in the garage, only a guarantee of a space within,” Harris said.
The parking garage is awaited with an excitement as evidenced in some of the student responses. Josh Sanders, senior business management major, is ready to test it.
“We have like 60,000 students here,” Sanders said. “Or it feels like that from parking. We definitely needed a parking garage.”
“(The) continued increase in student enrollment means that it is necessary for us to keep planning for growth: improving, renovating and building new facilities,” Banner said.
The parking garage is estimated by Banner to cost $20 million with the upcoming basketball arena estimated to cost approximately $73 million.
“The arena has not been bid on yet. Its construction start depends on when the parking structure is completed,” Banner said. “Hopefully we will see basketball in the new arena by late spring of 2016.”
Banner has planned the arena to have state of the art features such as good sight lines to the court alongside improved lighting and more concession stands.
“They will both be huge improvements to the campus, and as we all have experienced, they are two very large and significant projects occurring right in the heart of campus,” Banner said.
