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When most of this year’s first-year students were half the age they are now, plans for renovating the Memorial Union were just hitting the drawing board. By the time their first year is half over in January the project should be done, Bill Charland, director of Construction Administrative Services, said.
“I don’t have an exact completion date for the rest of the work,” he said. “Once the work is done we will have one of the best student unions in the state.”
But being among the best has not been without pitfalls. January 2002 is the fourth major deadline officials have announced. The first was May 2000. A second deadline passed in January 2001 when officials told The Maine Campus the expansion and renovation would be completed by the middle of the fall 2001 semester.
This fall does mark the first time students have been able to use any part of the new union. The University Bookstore and Union Central, part of the new dining area, are open for business in the expansion. The Career Center has also moved into its new space on the third floor. The renovated Bear’s Den area is now home to the MaineCard office, The Maine Campus offices, bookstore offices and the Computer Connection. It was at the Computer Connection where another problem arose.
A student employee at the Computer Connection went to the hospital Wednesday, Sept. 5, after having difficulty breathing, Doug Marchio, manager of the Computer Connection, said. The student, who is asthmatic, received medical attention and is improving but will not be able to work in the building for now.
“He can’t come in for a while, that’s for sure,” Marchio said.
Marchio said the student had been experiencing some discomfort before a dust and smoke cloud filled the halls of the union Wednesday morning. His experience, along with the cloud, raised concerns about air quality in the building.
Andy Jacobs, an assistant project manager with Facilities Management, said the ventilation system is up and running properly.
“It has been for quite some time,” he said. “That was part of the occupancy requirements with the state and local fire marshall’s offices.”
Jacobs said while the system is online, it is not running at 100 percent and will not be until the construction is completed. He said the air handling system, which is not the same as an air conditioner, should be tested this week and the air quality should improve. Jacobs said the dust and smoke cloud was the result of demolition in another part of the building.
“A requirement of the contract is when demolition is going to take place that could be objectionable to occupied areas they need to put up dust shields,” he said.
Jacobs said the shields were in place but consisted of little more than plastic and duct tape. Now there are fire rated partitions in place that he said should cut down on construction related particles in the air.
“They got a little ahead of themselves,” he said. “That’s how that dust exposure happened.”
Marchio said he is happy with the Computer Connection’s new location, and understands that there will be problems but said there needs to be accountability for those issues. “I understand we have to co-exist with construction but they need to be responsible for safety,” Marchio said.
Dealing with both occupants and construction has been one of the biggest problems for the project according to Charland. “I would say that’s been the single most difficult part of the project,” he said.
The next step in construction is to build a four-story staircase going from what is now the game room to the attic. This will bring the project to fire code so construction can begin on a 4,000-square-foot addition to the third floor. This addition will house the Center for Students and Community Life, including the offices for the four deans in that department.
Charland said work on the former bookstore is also in the near future and should be ready for the new Student Leadership Center by January. The center is the future home of Student Government and its boards as well as Legal Services and WMEB. Workers will also begin construction on the Maine Vestibule, currently the front door of the union. In order for this to take place, Student Government, Maine Bound and other groups currently located in the union will be moved into temporary housing. Officials will meet today to decide where each group will be.
“I guess it will take most of the rest of the semester to do this renovation,” he said.
Getting the rest of the dining services running should not take as long, Joe Mollo, director of Campus Activities and Events, said. He said the food venues in the Maine Marketplace, as well as the attached bar, should be in operation by fall break. Mollo wants students to feel they can enter the marketplace and Union Central and feel at home.
“We want people to come in and enjoy it,” he said.
Before students can enjoy the area, contractors need to finish constructing the space and installing equipment. Charland said the contractors should be done in a few weeks, then employees must be trained and the space brought up to code.
The Maine Marketplace will have more than 500 seats, eight venues and feature a view of the mall.
One question that remains is whether the contractor, D.L. Poulin, will be held responsible for the deadlines being pushed back a number of times.
“These are legal issues and I can’t really comment on that,” Charland said.
“There are contracts and those allow us to take action.”
Mollo sees the whole experience as a chance for everyone involved to learn from their mistakes.
“Are we going to get things right the first time? Probably not. Are we going to learn? Yes,” he said.
