One building down, another to go.
That seems to be the attitude at Carroll University, where construction on the college's new science center is nearing completion while the school prepares for the impending demolition — and eventual replacement — of Lowry Hall.
All that planning and work passed another milestone June 22, when Waukesha's Plan Commission unanimously granted final approval to the site and architectural plans for the project, a three-floor, 36,000-square-foot nursing center.
Construction on the new Lowry Hall is scheduled to begin in the coming weeks, said Carroll's senior Public Relations Strategist Jess Owens.
That building and the nearly complete science center, at the corner of North Barstow Street and West College Avenue, are a part of Carroll's three-phase, multi-year, $50 million campaign to improve its science facilities.
The new Lowry
The newest structure, which will be immediately north of the science building, will house lab and classroom space that will serve the nursing, physics/engineering and exercise science programs as well as other academic classroom needs for students and faculty.
It is designed with two floors above grade, a partially exposed lower level, a glass atrium, an entry plaza off the campus mall and a screened rooftop enclosure that houses mechanical equipment.
The building will also include at least one particularly unique feature: a 1,200 square-foot rooftop terrace, or 'green roof,' said Ron Lostetter, Carroll's vice president of finance and administrative services.
City staff encouraged the university to include that feature in the project when preliminary plans for the building came before the commission in April. At the time a decision had not been made about whether the terrace would be built.
Lostetter added that he anticipates the new building will be completed by December 2017.
Other improvements
Meanwhile, construction of Carroll's new science center is in its final stages.
That building, a $24 million, 44,500-square-foot project, will house interactive teaching and research laboratories and connect to the new Lowry building on all floors through the 12,000-square-foot Bucyrus Center for Applied Physics and Engineering.
An elevator that's being installed in the science building will also serve the nursing center.
The new science center will serve the university's anatomy and physiology, biology, chemistry and biochemistry programs, and also feature student and faculty gathering areas.
Owens said construction on that building should be complete by the end of July.
Continued road closure
Current and incoming Carroll students are likely excited about the new buildings, but they and residents alike should be aware that ongoing construction means segments of Barstow Street will remain closed to accommodate the work.
A small section of the street has already been closed at College Avenue for since 2015 while construction crews work on the science building.
Lostetter said another small portion at the south end of Barstow — near College but not at the intersection — will be open during the Lowry project, but the street will continue to be closed to through traffic.