Posted Nov 17, 2022, 10:59 PM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Feb 2017
Posts: 107
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CWalk99
https://www.expressnews.com/news/loc...r-17593004.php
Finally got some details and a preliminary design on the next UTSA building along the creek. Seems like this one will be around the same height (if not a little taller) with the same design motif. Looks like they'll even have a good sized plaza integrated in.
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Here is the article from Express News. Looking to break ground Summer of 2023. More cranes coming to downtown! Now if we could only get something to break the 500ft mark.
The University of Texas at San Antonio got the green light Thursday to continue its downtown expansion with a $124 million new building along San Pedro Creek.
The Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Careers (IEC) building - also dubbed the San Pedro II - is the next phase of ongoing construction that began across the creek with the soon-to-open School of Data Science and the National Security Collaboration Center, or San Pedro I.
The UT System Board of Regents approved the final part of its funding Thursday, authorizing $72 million from bond proceeds backed by the system’s Permanent University Fund, which will pay for the project along with $52.4 million from State of Texas Tuition Revenue Bond proceeds approved by the Legislature last year.
The main goal of the IEC, officials said, is to create spaces that encourage economic development and students’ economic mobility through career-focused programs, networking and internship opportunities, especially in high-demand interdisciplinary fields such as cybersecurity, computer and data sciences.
“It’s just a place for our students to gather, learn and connect with businesses downtown,” UTSA Chief Financial Officer Veronica Salazar said. “It’s also to complement the programs that are already in San Pedro I…. one focusing on security and one focusing on connecting the students and businesses all around the cyberspace and careers.”
Preliminary designs call for a six-story building with about 180,000 square feet for classroom and lab space, open multipurpose spaces and conference rooms that could serve students, entrepreneurs and the general community.
“This expansion of our downtown footprint reflects our intentionality in situating our academic offerings and learning experiences in the heart of our city’s business community,” said UTSA Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Kimberly Andrews Espy. “Employers directly benefit, as well, through first access to talented students.”
The university has already secured Overland-Gensler as the architects, Salazar said. The next step is to secure a construction manager and, if all goes as expected, the university will break ground by the summer of 2023.
“It will be about a 24-month construction period, so we are looking at maybe the end of 2025 to deliver the project fully,” Salazar said. “We are right on schedule and moving forward.”
The building will likely open in the spring of 2026, she said, to ensure officials have time after completion to furnish it and move in faculty and staff first - just like at San Pedro I, which is slated to welcome students in the spring.
A preliminary design for the building has been developed, but only for illustration purposes.
Considering the volatility of the current construction market, a more realistic look at what can be done with this budget and time frame awaits the hiring of the construction manager, Salazar said.
“One we have our construction management, then we’ll know what we are going to do,” she said. “But we are already looking at strategies to mitigate that cost escalation or even procurement of materials that we already know have been impacted.”
The IEC building will be located directly across from the School of Data Science on the site of the former Bexar County jail, which the university purchased earlier this year from the county.
Like its neighbor, it is expected to include features that invite the public through the use of glass walls and outdoor spaces that lead to the new San Pedro Creek Culture Park.
“This investment of over $124 million extends our efforts, launched in 2018, to support national security, cybersecurity, and data sciences here in San Antonio,” UTSA President Taylor Eighmy said in an announcement. “We continue to drive work force development and job creation in this ecosystem.”
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