Students may have to wait a little longer than expected to move into K4.
The target completion date for K4 , the planned fourth building of Keohane Quadrangle, has been pushed back to December 2011, Associate Dean for Residential Life Joe Gonzalez, announced at Campus Council’s weekly meeting Thursday.
Administrators have not yet set a new date for site prep work to begin. It was originally planned for this Spring.
“This is a very recent adjustment,” Gonzalez said. “This information is being developed right now and we plan to share it with the University as soon as we have it.”
Completion was initially projected for August 2011, but administrative discussion and student concerns convinced the administration to delay plans for K4 just a bit further.
“As we worked on the project, we began to see several advantages to adjusting the time line,” Gonzalez said. “Now we have a much better ability to manage the impact on students this Spring—there’s an increase in time, refined design and an increase in time for construction schedules to be worked out.”
Campus Council President Stephen Temple, a junior, said the delay aims to accommodate students living in Edens and Keohane Quadrangles, who would have been disrupted.
Most of these disruptions will have come from utility work and the close proximity of construction to students. At last week’s Campus Council meeting, many members of the council expressed concern about the effects of construction and site prep work on students.
“I am very happy that Student Affairs and [Residence Life and Housing Services] were able to adjust the schedules to have the building soon and yet take into consideration the wellbeing of residents of Edens and Keohane,” Temple said.
In accordance with the new schedule, K4 will open to students January 2011 and will be used mostly to house students coming back from study abroad programs second semester, Gonzalez said.
In other business:
Temple announced that the annual library party has been canceled for this year. The party was set to be sponsored by the Duke Partnership for Service. DPS President Adam Nathan, a senior, could not be reached for comment Thursday night.
Campus Council Vice President, Alex Reese, a junior, said the “feline-friendly” space coming to Central this Fall at 205 Oregon St. will be a free program.
The Central Campus restaurant, slated to open next month, will either be called “The Devil’s Bistro” or “Devil’s Kitchen,” and the new Central Campus complex, which will be open the first Friday after spring break, will be called Mill Village. Social space, study space and the Central gym will be called the Village Commons, the Village Study and the Village Gym respectively. These names, however, are still pending administrative approval.
Campus Council members also deliberated how they can work with Duke Student Government to improve transportation to and from Central Campus.
Reese will meet with sophomore Pete Schork, DSG vice president for campus and athletic services, Friday to discuss possible strategies for improvement. One idea discussed is creating a Central-only bus route that would operate through the night, and those wishing to go to East or West Campuses can transfer onto a main bus route at a transfer stop. Council members are also exploring instituting a GPS bus-tracking system and canceling the West-Central C-4, but extending the East-West-Central C-2 later into the night.
“We want to very clearly articulate the importance of transportation improvement campus-wide, but most specifically on Central, as one of the very top, if not the top, priorities of Campus Council,” Temple said. “I am very optimistic. I see beneficial and meaningful changes coming from our working group collaboration between DSG and Campus Council to improve transportation.”
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