New NBTS Building Opens Thursday!

[jdm1979]

From what I've gleaned from the NBTS and DEVCO facebook pages:

- The move in in progress.

- The Seminary will be operating in the new building on Thursday, July 3.

- Asbestos removal in preparation for demolition of the old Seminary building (Zwemer Hall) will begin next week, and the demo itself may begin later this month.

Congratulations to NBTS and kudos to DEVCO. If I remember correctly, the demolition to clear the site for the new Seminary began the last week of June, 2013. And actual construction activity started in early July.

Completing this project in one year flat is quite an accomplishment. Cofifa and DEVCO deserve high praise.

Gallery of Construction Images (including the Honors College)


Video of the Interior



This post was edited on 7/2 12:41 AM by jdm1979

This post was edited on 7/2 12:46 AM by jdm1979

 

[Cofifa]

Thanks.......Last Bishop Street structure comes down Monday and we are doing abatement in old NBTS as we speak ...NBTS will be down before freshman orientation

 

[mentulbloc]

Did they put in a parking lot behind it? I was hoping the plan would exclude paved areas as we already have enough of them on campus....

 

[HeavenUniv.]

Looks great Cofifa.--Does anyone know,after the Honors College dorms are completed,how many students will be living on the College Avenue campus ?

 

[jdm1979]

There's a 100-car parking lot. The entrance is across Bishop Pl from Tinsley and it wraps around the sorority on the corner ending where Hillel was. The vast majority of seminary students are commuters, and I think that no lot would have been a deal breaker for them.

Anyone know when orientation is? I expect that the NBTS demo will be a bit traumatic for the seminary folks. The new building should offer some solace.

And, although it must go, I'll sort of miss the old salt-shaker chapel. I know many consider it ugly, but it is a classic from its day (1967.)

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

Originally posted by jdm1979:
There's a 100-car parking lot. The entrance is across Bishop Pl from Tinsley and it wraps around the sorority on the corner ending where Hillel was. The vast majority of seminary students are commuters, and I think that no lot would have been a deal breaker for them.

Anyone know when orientation is? I expect that the NBTS demo will be a bit traumatic for the seminary folks. The new building should offer some solace.

And, although it must go, I'll sort of miss the old salt-shaker chapel. I know many consider it ugly, but it is a classic from its day (1967.)

Had some contact with the Seminary folk. They have universally been enthusiastic.

As for parking.. this would have been an idea time to hide a large parking deck underground, since the whole place is a hill,, and share it between the seminary and the honors college. Heck, make it big enough and you could remove other paved lots nearby as well.

 

[e5fdny]

Originally posted by GoodOl'Rutgers:

Originally posted by jdm1979:
There's a 100-car parking lot. The entrance is across Bishop Pl from Tinsley and it wraps around the sorority on the corner ending where Hillel was. The vast majority of seminary students are commuters, and I think that no lot would have been a deal breaker for them.

Anyone know when orientation is? I expect that the NBTS demo will be a bit traumatic for the seminary folks. The new building should offer some solace.

And, although it must go, I'll sort of miss the old salt-shaker chapel. I know many consider it ugly, but it is a classic from its day (1967.)

Had some contact with the Seminary folk. They have universally been enthusiastic.

As for parking.. this would have been an idea time to hide a large parking deck underground, since the whole place is a hill,, and share it between the seminary and the honors college. Heck, make it big enough and you could remove other paved lots nearby as well.

I can't speak for NB or New Jersey but I do know there are a lot more rules ($$$) when building a parking lot in NYC when you put a roof over it or move it underground.

 

[jdm1979]

I've always thought that the ideal place for an underground garage would be the space occupied by Records Hall, the learning center that formerly was the bookstore, Physical Plant, and the parking deck. The top of the garage should be approximately the ground level of Demarest and Brower. This spot is ideal because it is close to the Rt. 18 entrances and exits, invisible from College Ave., and would eliminate the depression that Records Hall sits in. The side facing George St. would be partially above ground, and that facade should be carefully designed so that Hardenbergh residents aren't facing something like the current College Ave deck.

 

[lawmatt78]

Originally posted by jdm1979:
I've always thought that the ideal place for an underground garage would be the space occupied by Records Hall, the learning center that formerly was the bookstore, Physical Plant, and the parking deck. The top of the garage should be approximately the ground level of Demarest and Brower. This spot is ideal because it is close to the Rt. 18 entrances and exits, invisible from College Ave., and would eliminate the depression that Records Hall sits in. The side facing George St. would be partially above ground, and that facade should be carefully designed so that Hardenbergh residents aren't facing something like the current College Ave deck.

I think this has definitely been considered. It does seem like a good concept.

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

Originally posted by lawmatt78:

Originally posted by jdm1979:
I've always thought that the ideal place for an underground garage would be the space occupied by Records Hall, the learning center that formerly was the bookstore, Physical Plant, and the parking deck. The top of the garage should be approximately the ground level of Demarest and Brower. This spot is ideal because it is close to the Rt. 18 entrances and exits, invisible from College Ave., and would eliminate the depression that Records Hall sits in. The side facing George St. would be partially above ground, and that facade should be carefully designed so that Hardenbergh residents aren't facing something like the current College Ave deck.

I think this has definitely been considered. It does seem like a good concept.

The same things are true for Seminary Hill. And they could probably strip mine some copper while they dug, help pay for the whole thing.

This post was edited on 7/21 11:04 PM by GoodOl'Rutgers

 

[jdm1979]

Yes, Holy Hill would have worked, too. At Records Hall, part of the garage would be above the current grade, reducing excavation costs.

Interestingly enough, while at Thomas Jefferson University, President Barchi oversaw a project where a partially-above and partially-below grade garage was demolished and replaced by a larger fully-underground garage. An academic building sits atop part of the garage while the balance is lawn and trees. This was a dramatic improvement to the campus.

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

Originally posted by jdm1979:
Yes, Holy Hill would have worked, too. At Records Hall, part of the garage would be above the current grade, reducing excavation costs.

Interestingly enough, while at Thomas Jefferson University, President Barchi oversaw a project where a partially-above and partially-below grade garage was demolished and replaced by a larger fully-underground garage. An academic building sits atop part of the garage while the balance is lawn and trees. This was a dramatic improvement to the campus.

I know it costs way more to do things this way, burying parking and utilities... as does using Union labor... but it should be done absolutely everywhere. Even a small buried lot on Olde Queens would look a lot better than seeing all that asphalt around our oldest buildings.

I guess lighting such lots would cost real money too. Solar panels on rooftops might handle that and be unseen from ground level. There has been a lot of talk of greening college avenue and beautifying campuses.. burying lots should be the first step imho.

 

[Upstream]

A couple years ago, Johns Hopkins replaces a surface parking lot with an underground parking garage, and then they covered the garage with grass.

 

[Cofifa]

an underground garage was considered but the price was through the roof. We would have been in the area of 70,000 $ a parking space at a minimum. This is due in large part to the additional cost to maintain a landscaped environment on the roof.
Actually Rutgers didnt even want the surface lot that NBTS insisted on. There is a general consensus to try to keep vehicles from circulating in what should be a pedestrian enviromenty. I do agree.

 

[Upstream]

Originally posted by Cofifa:
an underground garage was considered but the price was through the roof. We would have been in the area of 70,000 $ a parking space at a minimum. This is due in large part to the additional cost to maintain a landscaped environment on the roof.
Actually Rutgers didnt even want the surface lot that NBTS insisted on. There is a general consensus to try to keep vehicles from circulating in what should be a pedestrian enviromenty. I do agree.

Is the cost of maintaining a landscaped environment above an underground garage really that much different than trying to maintain a landscaped environment above the rock that naturally occurs below the soil? I get that you aren't going to grow large trees that have roots that go down 20 feet. But certainly you can grow grass, shrubs, and ornamental trees.

 

[derleider]

Better yet - do the records hall underground above ground garage, but making the George Street side a building - a dorm or something. In fact there is enough room that you could basically wrap the entire above ground portion in building and still fit something approaching the current garage in size (in fact, while your doing it, wrap that one too.)

 

[Cofifa]

I may have misspoke Up Stream....its the installation cost you need to be able to water landscaping and then drain all that moisture away..

 

[Upstream]

Originally posted by Cofifa:
I may have misspoke Up Stream....its the installation cost you need to be able to water landscaping and then drain all that moisture away..

got it

 

[derleider]

Originally posted by derleider:
Better yet - do the records hall underground above ground garage, but making the George Street side a building - a dorm or something. In fact there is enough room that you could basically wrap the entire above ground portion in building and still fit something approaching the current garage in size (in fact, while your doing it, wrap that one too.)

In fact - now that I think about it - do that, then tear down the River Dorms across the street from it, and make that a park with good connectivity to the River.

 

[jdm1979]

Perhaps a new heath center could be included in one of the buildings so that Hurtado could go. As mentioned elsewhere, that would allow the Old Queens - Voorhees Mall - New Academic Building axis to continue onto the Bishop Block.

 

[Korbermeister]

Excellent I would also like to see Better hall torn down so that the extension looks more like a mall and less like a pathway to Demarest Hall.

 

[Upstream]

Originally posted by derleider:

Originally posted by derleider:
Better yet - do the records hall underground above ground garage, but making the George Street side a building - a dorm or something. In fact there is enough room that you could basically wrap the entire above ground portion in building and still fit something approaching the current garage in size (in fact, while your doing it, wrap that one too.)

In fact - now that I think about it - do that, then tear down the River Dorms across the street from it, and make that a park with good connectivity to the River.

There was a master plan (which I cannot find on-line now) that called for the area from the parking lot behind the student center to the river to be rebuilt as a grass mall that crosses College Ave at grade level, and goes across George St as a wide grassy overpass.

 

[Korbermeister]

Here's a masterplan

A Rutgers CAC masterplan

 

[Cofifa]

Yes that was worth a million dollar competition......stealth bees I forgot

 

[lawmatt78]

Originally posted by Cofifa:
Yes that was worth a million dollar competition......stealth bees I forgot

One-way
bus only traffic on a reduced width and pedestrianized College Avenue
becomes part of the Stealth-Bee bus loop of hydrogen-powered buses/mobile
lounges

For more brilliance, click below:

http://www.predock.com/NewsRutgers/NewsRutgers.html

 

[jdm1979]

I just don't think that there's any chance that RU would even consider removing Brett Hall or the River Dorms for that matter.) Hurtado might be doable and, while not ideal, would make it possible to get from the mall extension to Bishop House without having to walk down the alley next to the health center.

As for the master plan, is there really a plan hidden in all of that prose? The illustrations are so bizarre that can't discern anything concrete about the plan other than a modernistic new building (New Queens) at the far end of College Ave.

 

[lawmatt78]

jdm,

That was one of the concepts for the Design Competition a few years ago. It is certainly not part of the University's official master plan.

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

Originally posted by Upstream:

Originally posted by Cofifa:
I may have misspoke Up Stream....its the installation cost you need to be able to water landscaping and then drain all that moisture away..

got it

But why would you need to have grass over it? In the case of the honors college area, why not build the underground parking, largely, directly below the building? Much of the parking for gateway is beneath the bulk of the building. In this case, that parking would just be underground.

This post was edited on 7/29 10:10 AM by GoodOl'Rutgers