Quote:
Originally Posted by rthomasd
I wasn't aware that they planned to knock down the old Science building. I had understood that it would be converted to office space.
MUN lost an excellent opportunity on Elizabeth Ave - with the $25M - $30M they are spending on the Battery Hotel (mostly to give the President a second office with a nice view) they could have put a lot of 2 or 3 story apartment units in the new cul-de-sac opposite the Arts Building that sat empty for more than 10 years until last year when a few single houses are being built there. Having students at the Battery Hotel will add even more traffic to campus, putting them on Elizabeth Ave wouldn't.
Also, MUN owns all/most of the houses on the Clark Place (Elizabeth Ave). These houses are used as office space now, perhaps they could be converted to 2 or 4 unit student apartments when more office space becomes available (on campus or at the Battery Hotel).
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The money it would take to turn the Science building into a safe environment for anything would probably outweigh the cost of building new. Faculty and administration refer to the building as the "Chernobyl Ring" and, contrary to popular belief, the sections of the 3rd and 4th floors that are no thoroughfare zones are in place not because of hazardous chemicals but because the building itself has poor air quality due to things like lead paint and asbestos that they do not want students exposed to. This is what I've been told by professors who work there.