As Saint Louis University prepares to pack up and head home on holiday, Clayco Construction remains on task as it renovates and constructs the new Busch Memorial Center. Crews are still on task to begin interior work, like constructing dry walls, by January.

Clayco will completely turn the project over to the University by the end of July 2003, according to Lee Hahnel, SLU’s BMC project coordinator.

Hahnel also said that the project is proceeding financially as planned and that negations with student groups and dining services regarding their space in the new BMC are going smoothly.

Since October, construction crews have completed the shell of the multipurpose room, also known as the ballroom, which sits at the northwest corner of the site. In the existing building, the old BMC, workers are on schedule erecting new interior walls, in addition to installing utilities for plumbing and electricity.

“Basically we’re starting to finalize the existing building,” Hahnel said.

The 22-foot-high ballroom will be lined on the east by a corridor complete with skylights and doors that open into the room, and on the west side there will be a service corridor. The whole space will be divisible into four rooms, each equipped to seat 250 people at round table. The Saint Louis Room could only hold 500 people seated theater-style, and, Hahnel noted, the new ballroom will cool more quickly.

The service corridor will have an entrance for each smaller room so organizers can serve food and access their room’s service sink and audiovisual equipment without disturbing other rooms.

The first floor will feature access to a covered walkway from the north end of the BMC to the entrance to Kelly Auditorium in addition to food services, student mailboxes, KSLU’s offices and services like a dry cleaner, bank, copy center and barber shop.

The second floor will house a convenience store, administrative offices and student group offices for the Student Government Association, the Student Activities Board and other organizations.

The third floor will house more offices for organizations, including the Office of Student Life, Events Services and The University News. Most of the organizations that moved left the BMC in a flurry before demolition last spring and relocated in Notre Dame Hall.

Hahnel noted that one of the unique things about the BMC project is the volume of student input that has been considered.

The Student Government Associate has sent members to survey the site with Hahnel and Clayco’s head of construction, Al Morton, on a bi-monthly basis with tours offered every Friday.

“Student participation has been key for us,” Hahnel said. “We’ve been able to get the student input that we don’t get on a lot of jobs.”