Students living on campus during the busiest construction summer in St. Thomas history watched as the metal frameworks of new buildings took shape, elevators were modernized, residence halls got exterior makeovers and sidewalks were torn up.

The completion of the Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex, the renovation of McCarthy Gym and the start of construction on the Anderson Student Center were the most noticeable – and most expensive – projects undertaken by the university this summer, but there were also numerous other renovation and construction projects.

These smaller projects ranged from rebuilding the JRC greenhouse to replacing bricks in Brady Hall’s exterior wall to shutting down elevators in four buildings on campus for modernization and repairs. The Koch workout room was converted into extended housing to accommodate the largest-ever freshman class, sidewalks around campus were torn up and new concrete was poured, and residence hall rooms were painted.

“It’s an exciting, thrilling time to be on campus,” said Jane Canney, vice president for student affairs. “These [projects] are the culmination of hard work and lots of vision over the years.”

The new athletic complex will officially open in late August or early September, Canney said. Fall athletes have been able to use the athletic facilities for a week now but the rest of the St. Thomas community has to wait until final construction details are taken care of, such as waiting for the tiles to cure and filling the pool with water.

All students will be able to use the new athletic center for free. In addition, alumni who graduated in the spring of 2010 will also be able to use the athletic facilities for free for one year, Canney said, because they had to put up with the inconvenience of not having athletic facilities on campus their senior year.

The McCarthy Gym renovations will be completed sometime in September, Canney said. She also said construction of the student center, a building she described as “the living room of the campus,” is on track and expected to be completed in January 2012.

Students “so excited” for new buildings even after inconveniences

Sophomore Chloe Sershon took classes at St. Thomas this summer and she said the construction activity was “surprisingly quiet” and “contained.” The process of converting the Koch workout facility into student housing did bother her, however, since she used the facility at least twice a week.

“The Koch workout room closed suddenly early on during the summer, and I was planning on using it for most of the summer, so that was a real inconvenience,” Sershon said. “I wish St. Thomas would have put out some kind of notice that they were going to close the workout room at the beginning of June.”

Junior Hanna Greimel worked at freshman orientation this summer and she said she’s looking forward to seeing the results of the summer construction projects.

“[I’m] so excited for the new buildings,” she said. “St. Thomas desperately needed updated athletic facilities and a nice place for students to work out. It is definitely worth the hassle – the new buildings are unbelievable. They’re beautiful and students will get so much use out of them.”

The constant construction didn’t affect Greimel’s daily routine too much.

“Life was pretty normal [on campus], although I was a little sad that there was so much construction because our campus is normally so beautiful,” she said. “The only inconvenience was when the path between upper quad and lower quad was closed. You had to walk through Murray Herrick to get around.”

Meg Tvrdik can be reached at tvrd0386@stthomas.edu.

Katie Broadwell contributed to this story.