Work moving ahead on latest campus building, Pollard Hall

By Justin Katz | gargoyle@flagler.edu

While the semester nears midterms, plans for Flagler College’s newest building are starting to come to fruition. Pollard Hall, named after its major donor, Nelson Pollard of Ponte Vedra Beach, will take the place of Flagler’s current Communication Building on Cordova Street.

After many years of planning, and meetings, the demolition is set to begin in June or July of this year. Until then, the site is being excavated for archaeological purposes to ensure nothing significant is underground. The college expects the building to be ready for use in the fall term of 2014.

Tracy Halcomb, chair of the Communication Department, has been watching the project evolve for half a decade, as the department will have a large presence in the new academic building. She said Pollard Hall is planned to contain four to five classrooms and a lounge area for students to congregate in between classes. It will also have four to six faculty offices as well as a new Mac computer lab.

The building will be 18,600 square feet and will be comprised of three two-story structures connected by a one-story building. The design of the building has been made to fit Saint Augustine’s famous Spanish architecture.

Flagler’s radio station, WFCF, will be relocated to 65 Cuna St., next to what will be Pollard Hall, while the current television studio is moving to the second floor of Kenan Hall, Halcomb said.

While students around Flagler are excited for the new building, the loss of “Com lot,” as it is affectionately called, is not sitting well with everyone. Flagler College Clubs will no longer be able to use the parking in the current Communication building lot on Cordova to raise money. Pollard Hall will cover the entire lot.

“I think the new building will be a great addition for Flagler … but losing the Com Lot is a big loss,” said Junior Carlos Nicot. “Clubs around campus need money to survive and that is one way all clubs on campus were able to raise funds for the year.”