Westlake Hall is more than 110 years old, but this summer it’s undergoing a tremendous growth spurt. Bradley’s second-oldest academic mainstay is expanding and evolving into a state of the art learning center, with progress visible day by day.
Workers are currently applying limestone to the building’s north side and will begin laying the roof in the next week and a half. Despite another rainy summer, the project is right on schedule.
In fact, when students return to campus in late August, Westlake Hall will look nearly complete - at least from the outside. Assistant Project Manager for Construction Jesse Staley said the structure will be fully closed in by the time classes begin.
Warm weather signals the height of construction season, but new aerial photos of Bradley’s Westlake Hall and Hayden-Clark Alumni Center show workers remained busy through the winter months.
Westlake Hall is expanding before our eyes. Workers will soon finish framing the exterior walls, then apply sheeting to give the expanded structure its new shape - six times the original size! Limestone installation on the building’s exterior will begin in early June.
Meanwhile, the interior of the alumni center is completed and crew members are now working on final touches outside the building.
Four new gargoyles were installed atop the nearly completed Hayden-Clark Alumni Center today, joining a pack that has watched over the Bradley community since the University’s inception. The 3,000-pound creatures were each carved from 5ft. x 3ft. slabs of Indiana limestone. Two face east, in a tribute to Bradley’s rich history, and two face west, admiring campus’ westward expansion. Witness history in the making with our video and photos below.
The Hayden-Clark Alumni Center won’t be hard to spot now! The structure is nearly completed and, as of March 24, its name appears on the façade. Watch the video below to see the name being placed.
Campus Dining Services has expanded significantly this academic year, with new kosher and halal food options to accommodate the University’s diverse student population. The improvements to mealtime offerings have been so tremendous, in fact, they’re outgrowing our kitchens.
The Geisert Hall kitchen will be remodeled and transformed into freezer and cooler space, making way for a new, much larger kitchen and full kosher workspace including separate preparation areas for meat and dairy products.
The renovation will double the seating for patrons and provide a more comfortable workspace for kitchen staff. Some 1,200 meals are served in the Geisert Hall cafeteria each day.
“We’ve tried to make the best use of the space, but when it’s busy people are literally working on top of each other,” said Ron Gibson, director of Campus Dining Services. “You can imagine what happens when 550 people show up for lunch.”
The cafeteria continues to operate regularly as the addition grows steadily outdoors. Gibson said the interior renovation will begin in May and the project will be completed by the time classes begin in August 2011.
As construction enters the homestretch on the Hayden-Clark Alumni Center, you can already see how perfectly the grand new structure will fit into an area boasting big campus attractions.
Located between the first two products of The Campaign for a Bradley Renaissance - the Markin Family Student Recreation Center and the Renaissance Coliseum - and right next to the rapidly expanding Westlake Hall, the new alumni center features modern architecture with a visible nod to the past. The limestone walls are now in place, complementing the adjacent Bradley Hall.
Inside, workers are framing the basement and each floor of the three-story building one-by-one, with paint rollers set to spin on the second floor as early as next week.
“It’s coming to life,” said Jesse Staley, assistant project manager, who confirmed construction is right on schedule.
The Hayden-Clark Alumni Center is set to be completed next March, just over one year after its groundbreaking.
Bradley’s volleyball and women’s basketball teams are movin’ on up—their new home is the university’s soon-to-be unveiled 4,200-seat arena. The ultra-modern facility will go live later this month, following some finishing touches, but it’s already clear the new digs will take Bradley spirit up a notch this season.
“There’s a realization when you walk in of what a remarkable gift and opportunity we have here,” said director of athletics Dr. Michael Cross, who led area media through a tour of the facility on August 3.
Adjacent to the arena is a state-of-the-art men’s basketball practice facility—a workspace the team is already putting to use with open gym sessions.
Not just a sports arena, the over 165,000-square-foot venue is proving to be a draw for big-time acts. Grammy award-winning rock band Weezer and comedic icon Jay Leno are already booked for fall semester performances scheduled on either side of the facility’s October 15 dedication.
Bradley students seeking part-time employment will be among the first to behold the university’s new 4,200-seat arena, one of the ambitious construction projects included in the Bradley Renaissance campaign. The arena’s inaugural event, a part-time job fair, is on the books for August 24, which gives workers just 21 days to put the finishing touches on the multipurpose facility.
Those who harbor fond memories of spirited matchups and the Hall-of-Famers who brought life to Bradley’s historic Robertson Memorial Fieldhouse will feel a nostalgic tug at the heartstrings when they step into Heritage Hall, the arena’s tribute to its predecessor. From a series of folding wooden seats pulled directly from the Fieldhouse stands to red steps that led to the iconic raised floor, the dedication space includes countless relics familiar to diehard Braves fans.
With appropriate homage to the past, the arena is clearly poised to carry Bradley students into the future. The design allows for integration of athletics and academics while also reaching out to the Peoria community that has so passionately supported the university through the decades.
“Athletically, there’s investment, but there’s also investment in our students. We’re very proud of what this facility will mean to not only our student-athletes but to the campus community as well,” Dr. Cross said.
For now, it’s pretty quiet inside the arena and Men’s Basketball Practice Facility. The raucous cacophony of construction has faded and been replaced by the swishes of a broom as workers clean up the final traces of construction. The pristine performance venue has been two years in the making, but its most memorable moments will begin taking shape this fall when it brims with the sound of sneakers, buzzers, and cheering crowds.
Forty to 50 workers of various trades are toiling through the early summer heat, and through rain showers when they can. Peoria’s June rainfall has already nearly doubled the monthly average, leaving workers to circumnavigate wide, sporadic puddles through the site, but assistant project manager Jesse Staley says the project is right on schedule. The exterior walls have all been framed, duct and plumbing work is underway, and workers are now able to utilize an interior stairwell to access the upper reaches of the building. Soon the roof will take shape, making way for limestone walls to fill the gaps separating the not-quite-Bradley-red iron frame.
Winter weather was upon us when less than five months ago excavation for the Hayden Clark Alumni Center began and the first footings along the west wall were poured. Now, with Spring flowers blooming and trees leafing out the structural steel is being placed and the frame work for all three floors of the facility has been set. Roof joists will be put in place soon. Meanwhile, masons are busy working on the block work for the north stair tower.
Campus Dining Services has expanded significantly this academic year, with new kosher and halal food options to accommodate the University’s diverse student population. The improvements to mealtime offerings have been so tremendous, in fact, they’re outgrowing our kitchens.