The Twin Oaks south tower site is being prepared for the new Oak Street West development.

UMKC energizes building plans for fall

By: Derek Simons

Posted: 4/23/07

Despite the difficulty with state funding for Missouri Governor Matt Blunt's MoHELA proposal, the new UMKC Health Sciences Building on the Hospital Hill campus will open this fall.

About 70 percent of the building will be completed and occupied by the Schools of Pharmacy and Nursing, according to Bob Simmons, director of Campus Facilities.

"What this money [$15 million] was going to do was finish out the remaining 30 percent of the building," Simmons said. "I think our alumni and our students are collectively expressing their disappointment at the state of affairs down there [Jefferson City, Mo.]."

Other parts of Chancellor Guy Bailey's $300 million plan for expanding UMKC will also be visible in the fall, when students return from the summer break.

The Oak Street West development's foundations will be laid and framing should start to emerge from the ground. Some of the underground utilities have already been completed, including the rerouting of the sanitary sewer lines.

When the outside shell of the development is finished, work will begin north of the site on the replacement housing for Cherry Street Residence Hall.

"I compare new construction to space launches," Simmons said. "When the engines first ignite and there's all this smoke and the thing just sits there on the launch pad, it seems like nothing is happening."

The Oak Street West development will include roughly 5,000 square feet of retail space in the southeast corner, next to Pizza 51, 5060 Oak St. This will increase the size of the commercial zone by about 75 percent.

This fall will also see the replacement of the Volker campus air conditioning plant. The new plant will be online by next spring, in time for the warm weather.

The $20 million project, financed by a 15-year bond through the University of Missouri System, is being done by Burns & McDonnell (B&M), an international engineering company based in Kansas City.

Simmons said light, water and plumbing fixtures will be replaced all across campus, as well as changes to the temperature control system.

"Energy savings from the project will pay for the project," Simmons said. "It's called 'performance contracting' - [B&M] guarantee the savings."

The planned $70 million Miller Nichols Library expansion is still in the private fund-raising stage.

"We've looked at that project in conjunction with the Student Union as a way to have a major impact in that area," Simmons said.

With regard to the failed referendum for a student fee to pay for the student union, Simmons said the University will try to find a way to lessen the financial impact on the students before re-proposing the initiative.

Simmons said the preferred location for a new convocation center/basketball arena continues to be the southeast corner of Rockhill Road and 52nd Street.

"The nice thing about this site would be the parking in the area," Simmons said. "Plus, it's right along the University Way."

To make space for the arena, the University House would have to be removed.

dsimons@unews.com