Flagler starts year on new ground

From Their Perspective: Larry Weeks on campus changes
[podcast]http://fcgargoyle.wpengine.com/podcasts/fromtheirperspective9.6.12.mp3[/podcast]
By Tiffanie Reynolds | gargoyle@flagler.edu

With the completion of Hanke Hall, the continuing renovations to Wiley Hall and plans for a new academic building on the property where the Communications building now sits, the college is stirring dust on projects that have been on the planning board for years.

New funding has pushed the start of many of these projects with goal-meeting donations made in the past year.

“I would say we have more going on simultaneously. Part of that may be the availability of money and what it costs to borrow money or how much money we have been able to raise,” said Leslee Keys, director of special projects at Flagler.

Hanke Hall, the new home of Admissions and Financial Aid, has been in planning since the college bought the land seven years ago, although other possibilities were also considered for it.

“We could have probably only gotten about four classrooms, and the elevator would have been on the exterior, so we felt that the location of the Communication Building at 31 Cordova was a better site to build classrooms,” said Larry Weeks, director of Business Services.

Hanke Hall gives Admissions and Financial Aid their own floors, with Admissions offices big enough to fit families of potential students and a mosaic created by the Art Department in the outside courtyard. It will also serve as the new starting point for campus tours.

Wiley Hall takes on more students as two temporary classrooms were put in the first floor. The classrooms, converted from Registrar offices, will only be there for the 2012-2013 school year.

More permanent renovations include repairs to the outside of the building, due to water and termite damage.

Plans for new classrooms are still in the drawing stages, as revisions had to made to the new communications building after complaints from neighbors during the approval process of plans through the city.

Weeks will take new plans to the City Commission on Oct. 8 for approval. If approved, the revisions will push the construction date back to Jan. 1 with a completion date of Fall 2013, he said.