PHOTO COURTESY OF RHIANNON PREGITZER
JOSH WYMYCZAK
Photo Editor
Pepperdine submitted a $250 million plan to the L.A. County Regional Planning Department in November, unveiling a long-talked-about “Campus Life Project” and “Town Square Project” that will take nearly a decade to complete and make profound enhancements to campus life and structure, according to President Andrew K. Benton.
“We’re looking at a refurbishment of a 35-year-old campus where a lot of our buildings are aged,” director of regulatory affairs Rhiannon Pregitzer said. “We have a beautiful campus, but sometimes our buildings, in particular the interiors, don’t match up with the beauty of our surroundings.”
The plans include drastic changes to on-campus housing, athletic facilities, recreational space, parking and much more. According to Benton, the plans will not have an impact on increased tuition and rely completely on fundraising, which has already begun.
“For many years we’ve felt that we do not serve our students adequately in recreation facilities, and we certainly don’t have practice or competitive space that is worthy of our fine athletic teams,” Benton said. “We also feel that about 300 more students would like to live on campus, so we’re responding to expressed student needs.”
According to Pretziger, the technical process is broken into three steps, which began the first in November of 2007. Plans are first submitted to the L.A. County Regional Planning Department where permits to build are processed and approved. The plans are then given to the Coastal Commission and afterward go through the building permit process. Once completed, the university begins construction based upon fundraising and university needs, according to Pregitzer.
One of the biggest aspects of the project includes the restructuring of Firestone Fieldhouse and building of a new athletic and events center over the existing Rho parking lot.
As for the existing Firestone Fieldhouse, the new plans include an addition of 18,000 square feet to the back and another 8,000 square feet to the front. The extra square footage will allow for extra weight training facilities, dance studios and other activity spaces.
Once this is finished, construction will begin on the new facility while sustaining the use of the Fieldhouse for sports and convocation.
The new facility will seat 5,000, accomodating1,900 more than Firestone. It will also hold the offices for the Athletics Department, moving them from Heritage Hall.
“Right now it’s very inadequate, and I admit that,” Benton said. “It’s embarrassing what we give them now, when we think about how successful they are at competition and the equipment that we give them to work with.”
The new location of the athletic facilities has the potential to increase enthusiasm among students and alleviate concerns of the Malibu community members.
“This will put our athletic facilities deeper into campus, make them less obtrusive on Malibu Country Estates, and make it so that any noise problems are being created by those who live there,” Benton said. “The space surrounding the new facility will give gracious space for Homecoming, tailgate parties, and a place to celebrate our athletic teams.”
Once this facility is done, the main part of the Fieldhouse will be turned into a “dedicated recreation facility,” according to Benton. This will include an indoor running track, climbing wall, juice bar, three intramural-size basketball courts, and a “truly spectacular” weight center. Once completed, the facility will be well over 100,000 square feet.
Once the athletic facilities are completed, construction will move to what is now Stotsenberg Track. To begin, the existing soccer field will be raised so that it is even with Dorm Road. Underneath will be a parking garage with space for 1,268 cars on two levels. Also within the parking garage will be a basement where Mail Services, the Print Shop and Auto Shop will be moved.
On top of the garage will be an NCAA regulation soccer field that will be level with what is now Dorm Road. As of now, the field is long enough but not wide enough to be regulation size, and some teams refuse to play on the field.
According to Benton, the new athletic facility and track will not be visible to the Malibu community.
The “Campus Life Project” has big plans in store for the housing community. With goals in mind to “provide more spaces on campus for students,” according to Director of Housing Jim Brock, “and to increase the number of amenities in an environment that’s going to be an exciting place for them to live on campus,” the dormitories are looking at undergoing extensive changes.
Dormitories on upper and lower dorm roads will be taken out of service one or two at a time to be enlarged and enhanced. The upgrades will include rewiring, larger and nicer restrooms, prayer rooms, sun decks, kitchenettes and more recreation within the actual facilities. Once completed, the dorms will house 1,100 students, which adds 300 beds.
“It’s important to know that this is not about increasing our student body, it’s about better serving it,” Benton said. “We will not be enrolling any more students, but we will be allowing more students to live on campus.”
The housing staff has taken students’ concerns into account while developing ideas for the new housing complexes.
“We conducted an online survey and focus groups to gather student opinions,” Brock said. “Many of the new aspects being incorporated in the new halls come directly from student input that we have gathered.”
The housing staff hopes that the new plans will create a better sense of community among students and encourage more of them to live on campus.
“There are so many adequate spaces for people to come together on campus in the new plans that we hope that we can get as many students to live on campus as possible,” Brock said.
In addition, two out of the four dorms on Greek Road will be torn down to create a new dual-building dormitory designed mainly for upper-classmen. The facility will be even with what will be the soccer field and track, and will add numerous amenities to the future Pepperdine community.
The facility includes an open green quad area in the middle of the two buildings, common outdoor gathering spaces, multipurpose classroom spaces, recreational lounges, as well as another dining facility and a convenience store, according to Pretziger.
The new buildings will house 358 students, opposed to the 100 in the two buildings being replaced.
Benton has expressed the importance in the chronology of the individual projects in order to assure the proper accommodations for the student body. Brock added that another possibility of accommodating students during the renovation of the dorms might include a temporary usage of off-campus apartments.
“There is a chance that we purchase a block of off-campus apartments and shuttle students back and forth during the construction,” Brock said. “If this happens we will be sure to use very nice facilities and work with the students as much as possible.”
The second half of the plans submitted fall under what Benton has named the “Town Square Project.” The project includes a reconstruction of Elkins Auditorium, the courtyard outside of it and the parking lot in front of Smothers Theatre, currently known as the Seaver Main Lot.
This portion of the developmental plans begins this year with a revamping of Elkins.
“We’re going to enlarge it and make it beautiful,” Benton said. “It’s our only lecture hall, it’s a ‘smart’ building, and we want to beautify it.”
In addition to Elkins, the project will include a total renovation of the Seaver main lot. The current plans include dropping the lot two stories subterranean to make room for a two-story parking garage, effectively doubling the parking spaces on main campus. On top of the garage will be a park with walkways, fountains and as much green space as possible.
02-07-2008
