Pretty crappy news, and HBG is blowing yet another great parcel of land for a sub-par (in height) building.
Harrisburg U scales down tower
Friday, July 07, 2006
BY JOHN LUCIEW
Of The Patriot-News
If it were a science experiment, it might be called the "incredible shrinking building."
But a proposal for a suddenly shorter headquarters for the Harrisburg University of Science and Technology has everything to do with money, not back-firing chemical reactions.
The latest design, unveiled this week before a Harrisburg City Council committee, lops off four floors, shrinking the once 20-story tower to 16 floors.
Harrisburg University President Melvyn Schiavelli said the smaller building fits better with the university's estimated $70 million budget for construction.
Officials blamed the down-sizing on skyrocketing prices for construction materials and the high costs of outfitting science labs.
"It's mostly cost-related," Schiavelli said. "This makes it an absolutely doable proposal."
The tower would be at Fourth and Market streets on what is a parking lot. It would serve as the year-old university's headquarters for the next decade or more.
The building would contain seven floors of classroom and office space for the university, or about 180,000 square feet, and nine floors, or about 190,000 square feet, for parking.
The scaled-back design eliminated two floors of classroom and office space, as well as two floors of parking, Schiavelli said.
The City Council is to vote Tuesday on the final design for the tower. If approved, construction should begin in October. The city planning commission has approved the plans.
The pre-cast concrete, brick and glass tower is expected to take two years to build, with occupancy scheduled for winter 2008.
The tower also would contain street-level retail businesses, a library and a 125-seat auditorium.
There would be administrative suites and a rooftop garden and courtyard, but no residential quarters for students.
The building's signature feature would be an over-hanging roof that resembles a graduation cap.
To pay for construction, Schiavelli said, the university is counting on at least $30 million in commitments from the state and an estimated $36 million bond issue, among other sources.
Schiavelli said there is interest from several institutional investors, whom he described as comfortable with the university's business plan and enrollment projections.
The university enrolled its first tuition-paying class of 110 students in September and is expected to more than double enrollment this fall, especially now that students will be eligible for more government grants and loans.
The university is sharing space with the affiliated SciTech High in the 200 block of Market Street.
While the proposed headquarters is projected to meet the university's needs until 2018, officials remain interested in other sites for future development.
Seemingly stymied in a bid to acquire the U.S. Postal Service property at 813 Market St., Schiavelli said the university is exploring other sites, including land in Mayor Stephen R. Reed's so-called Southern Gateway Project, a large area south of Chestnut Street.
Reed has said the transportation and economic development project would open about 35 acres of underutilized land at the southern end of center city, virtually doubling the size of downtown.
The most ambitious portion of the long-range plans involves constructing a raised platform that would cover several blocks of South Second Street and the surrounding land. Buildings would be constructed on top of the platform, while traffic and parking would be ushered underneath it.