This article was written by Drexel University Vice President of Real Estate and Facilities Alan Greenberger.
Summer is a busy time for Drexel Real Estate and Facilities, as we take the opportunity of the warm weather and fewer people on campus to get as much construction and renewal work completed as possible. All construction — whether in developing new or renovated buildings or repairing critical infrastructure — comes with disruption and inconvenience. We are working hard to minimize problems, and we thank you for your patience.
Here is an update on many of the projects you have been seeing or will be seeing in the coming weeks as we prepare for the return of many more students, faculty and professional staff in the fall. Once completed, these projects will be of great benefit to the University.
Major Construction Projects
Kelly Hall Renovations: Part of Drexel’s ongoing initiative to modernize the residential campus and enhance the student experience, the $42 million renovation and expansion of Kelly Hall is largely complete. As of Aug. 1, furniture is being installed and landscaping is being completed. The renovated building and exciting new student amenity addition will be opening for occupancy this September.
Myers Hall Demolition and New Green Space: The first phase of the demolition of Myers Hall will occur in late August and will involve the wing of the building closest to Powelton Avenue. The demolition clears ground for the construction of a very small building to house essential electrical controls that were housed in Myers but operate several buildings in the area. Once the new building and new electrical equipment are operational, the remainder of Myers Hall will be demolished and a new, major recreational field constructed. We anticipate completion of that work in fall 2024.
Partnership Projects: Consistent with our vision to establish a neighborhood of innovation around the core campus on vacant land owned by Drexel, our partners are in the process of building nearly $2 billion of projects, primarily for the life sciences, but also including apartments, ground floor retail and public space — representing the single largest development concentration in Philadelphia in many decades. You will be seeing new buildings nearly done or coming out of the ground at Schuylkill Yards and uCity Square and two very large and very deep excavations on Chestnut Street for Spark Therapeutics and at 33rd and Arch streets for Gattuso Development Partners’ 3201 Cuthbert St. development. Some of the spaces being developed will be occupied by Drexel to support our ongoing academic needs.
Repairs and Renewal
Daskalakis Athletic Center (DAC): The DAC suffered two system failures this year. The first involved a burst pipe on a brutally cold day last December that damaged the maple arena floor. The floor has been completely replaced and is back in full use. The second involved the failure of two valves that regulate water to the pool, necessitating the temporary closure of the pool. The parts needed for repair have now arrived and are being installed, and the pool should be back in full operation by late August.
Main Building Elevator: A critical electronic element of the elevator in the Main Building failed unexpectedly in July, rendering the elevator non-operational. Delays in the national supply chain have the part arriving sometime in August. Once here, the elevator will be repaired and put back into full service. In the meantime, there is no elevator access for the third and fourth floors of the Main Building complex. The second floors of Main Building, Randell Hall, Curtis Hall and Alumni Engineering Labs remain accessible using the bridge from the third floor of the Center for Automation Technology building to the second floor of Curtis Hall. The first floors of those same buildings remain accessible through the Main Building west entrance, from the Perelman Plaza. The lift at the Ludlow Street entrance of Curtis that services the basement of Randell, Curtis and Alumni is also functioning.
The good news for Main is that the restoration and painting of all the Auditorium windows and Woodring Lab windows, both on the Ludlow Street side of the main complex, were completed this summer. Combined with previously completed restoration of the Great Court and various façade and infrastructure improvements, the public spaces of Main are once again in excellent condition.
Parking Garage: We are proactively making needed repairs to the upper decks of the parking garage located in the General Services Building at 34th and Market streets. Those repairs required the closure of those upper decks, temporarily limiting the availability of parking spaces in the garage through Sept. 1. Work is ongoing and will be completed prior to the start of the fall term, when the garage will be opened at full capacity.
Public Benches: All the wood benches in and around Korman Quad are being refinished and treated with a special oil designed to preserve the wood. The treatment involved cleaning, sanding and re-oiling the wood. This work causes the wood to take on a more amber tone, something that many people enjoy. But within a year, the wood will naturally weather and return to its silver patina, though now in much better condition.
Water Mains: The Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) is replacing several water mains and sewers on blocks that run through campus. We organized a very careful schedule with PWD to minimize disturbances to campus activities. Notably, the new mains that run underneath Race Street Commons are being completed in August before the reopening of Kelly Hall in September. Before PWD can put in the final asphalt surface, temporary patches will be seen while testing is done on the new installation to make sure there are no leaks.
How to Get the Latest Facilities Updates
You can opt in to receive email notification of construction work, scheduled utility shutoffs, and other scheduled maintenance work being performed by Real Estate and Facilities by sending an email to listserv@lists.drexel.edu with only the following information in the body of the message: subscribe facilities-notices-L.
In addition to updates like this one in DrexelNews, we also post Facilities Notices (shutoffs, outages, repairs, construction) to a feed that appears on the Drexel Real Estate and Facilities homepage, and we track the progress of major Drexel and partner projects on campus via the Current Projects page.