By SUE WUETCHER
Reporter Editor

It’s been a long haul for the UB Child Care Center.

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  The UB Child Care Center soon will break ground on an addition to its North Campus facility, shown above in an artist’s rendering.
  

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  The "temporary" quarters of the UB Child Care Center in the Butler annexes on the South Campus will become permanent after extensive renovations that will include a new front facade, windows, roofs, floors and ceilings, as well as a connector between the two annexes.

Located in “temporary” Quonset-hut-style quarters on the South Campus since its founding in 1985, the center opened a second site on the North Campus in fall 1998 in an attempt to fulfill an ever-increasing need for quality child care services for UB faculty, staff and students.

Yet, despite having facilities on two campuses, the child care center still maintains a waiting list of 85 families for the South Campus site and 72 families for the North Campus site, according to Pat Logan, director of the child care center. Some families are on both waiting lists, Logan adds.

But that will be changing soon.

UB will break ground this summer on a new addition to the North Campus child care facility near South Lake Village, and plans an extensive renovation of the South Campus building, located in the Butler annexes along Bailey Avenue, in winter and spring 2009.

When completed in fall 2009, the $7 million project will result in an additional 75 slots for children at the North Campus site, as well as some slots at the South Campus site that will become available when some families move to the expanded North Campus facility.

The project “will reduce the waiting lists considerably. We will have the ability to better accommodate the need for child care on campus,” Logan says, noting that she believes the need for child care is even greater than what is indicated by the waiting lists since many families do not even apply for admission to the center because of the length of the wait.

The UB Child Care Center project on the North Campus is just one of numerous construction projects slated to be done this summer on the North and South campuses. Other major projects include the start of the renovation of John Kapoor Hall—formerly Acheson Hall—on the South Campus to house the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, the installation of new storm sewers on the South Campus and completion of the Founders Plaza renovation project on the North Campus.

Demolition will begin within the next week or so on the Kapoor Hall project, says Kevin Thompson, director of facilities planning and design. Asbestos will be removed, the interior will be gutted and the exterior removed, he says, adding that all that will remain will be the skeletal frame and concrete floor decks. Once this work is completed in November, the general rebuilding job will be bid, with reconstruction work expected to begin in early spring 2009, he says.

The work this summer at Founders Plaza will conclude a project that began last summer. Concrete paving and underground utilities will be replaced and lighting and landscaping upgraded at the plaza from the spot where work ended last fall, near O’Brian Hall, to Putnam Way near Clemens Hall and the Student Union.

The replacement of storm and sanitary sewers on the South Campus will begin this month along Hayes Road and around the Parker parking lot. This project involves digging up the old sewer lines, installing new lines and rebuilding the road and parking lot, Thompson says. He acknowledges that the work “will have a significant impact” on South Campus residents, especially those who use the Parker lot. Faculty and staff who work in the affected area will be notified by email and by paper postings in departments and on building doors when roads and parking lots will be closed. Hayes Road also will be closed behind Kapoor Hall during demolition work on that building.

The project at the child care center is being done in two phases, Logan explains. Ground is expected to be broken within the next few weeks on the addition to the North Campus building. The existing facility also will be renovated, which will add space for three infant classes, a toddler class and a preschool class, as well as room for an after-school program and additional space for staff, she says.

Once the North Campus work is completed in December, renovations will begin on the South Campus site. “The work is so extensive, we will need to vacate the buildings,” Logan says, noting that the children from the South Campus site will be moved to the North Campus building for the duration of the work. The renovation will include a new front façade, roofs, windows, floors and ceilings, and a connector between the two annexes, and upgrading the heating, electrical and fire alarm systems.

Logan says the children will be moved back to the South Campus building when that work is completed in fall 2009, and an expanded program will open in the North Campus facility.

Other projects to be done on the North Campus this summer include:

• Repair and resurfacing of the parking lots north and east of the Governors Residence Halls, Hamilton Loop, the intersection of Audubon Parkway and Hamilton Loop, the area exiting the bus tunnel on the east side of the Ellicott Complex, St. Rita’s Lane near the Oozfest site, the parking lot near South Lake Village and a portion of the Stadium lot.

• Construction of a new sidewalk from the Pepsi Center along Coventry Road to Bissell Hall.

• Plumbing modifications, Natural Sciences Complex.

• Masonry work, Alumni Arena, the Natural Sciences Complex and O’Brian, Ketter, Furnas, Capen, Jacobs and Park halls.

• Resurfacing of the track, UB Stadium.

• Replacement of roof and exterior stairs, O’Brian Hall.

• Replacement of air handling units (AHUs) and structural repairs, Ellicott Complex.

• ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) improvements.

• Structural upgrades, Triple Gym, Alumni Arena.

Among the projects on the South Campus:

• Cornice and trim repairs, Beck Hall.

• Masonry restoration, Squire, Hayes, Crosby, Parker, Foster and Wende halls.

• Renovation of the third and fourth floors, perimeter heating and cooling upgrades, fire alarm upgrades, replacement of AHUs, Kimball Tower.

• ADA improvements.

• Replacement of dental chair drains, elevator upgrades, installation of automatic door openers, Squire.