(06-30-2014 04:44 PM)tiger2000 Wrote:  

(06-30-2014 04:07 PM)kapsig tgr Wrote:  

(06-30-2014 01:59 PM)wkid87 Wrote:  

(06-30-2014 09:36 AM)kapsig tgr Wrote:  Any news of the music building?

The last thing I heard is that it is still in the works but it is coming along slowly. I believed it suppose to be where Towers is currently located. Hopefully it will be completed before the end of the decade.

I was thinking it was supposed to go south of where the new residences are going up that are replacing the towers. That should be the big project that really connects the campus to the highland row strip and creates more of a front door to the campus.

The music building is supposed to go on what is now Watauga Avenue.

The University slowed its plans down for a few reasons. One is that they don't quite own all of the property they intend to acquire (they own quite a bit though and are picking up a few properties here and there). The other was the housing market crash. They were knocking on doors trying to buy homes as the housing market was increasing almost monthly because the longer they waited, the more they were afraid they'd have to pay. The last is that they realized that they could re-coup some cost of the new construction.

Essentially they buy the properties with the allotted funds, rent them out to students, and then have physical plant and planning in charge of maintenance, landscaping, etc. The University collects rent from students in the properties they currently own while they wait on other homeowners to sell.

They are trying to avoid eminent domain because they think it would garner bad publicity. Eventually, I think they'll have to institute it.

That is correct. They have an open purchase policy to buy anything that becomes available all the way to Highland.

The music/fine arts building will be a major project that will include a large performance hall. It will likely be announced within five years and will be a major link to the community. It can be a transformational addition to campus.