Inside Iowa State

September 24, 2004

Electrical upgrade to Morrill Hall precedes renovation

by Anne Krapfl

Earlier this week, utility crews began to replace the electrical service to the Hub and Morrill Hall. The project will approximately double the electrical capacity of Morrill, in anticipation of a major renovation to the 113-year-old building, and provide a new service to the Hub.

Following the upgrade, the two buildings will receive electrical power via a large underground electrical vault on the east side of Morrill Road, south of LeBaron Hall. But instead of digging trenches and tearing up Morrill Road to bridge the distance between the vault and the buildings, crews will bore pipes and line under the road.

The only closure planned is for the driveway to the Hub from Morrill Road. It will close for two weeks beginning Oct. 4 so a second new electrical vault can be buried under the driveway.

The electrical upgrade project, which includes telecommunications lines, is scheduled to wrap up the first week in January.

Architects currently are preparing construction drawings of a renovated Morrill. Those should be completed by mid-December. The anticipated bid opening date for the construction phase is Jan. 20, 2005. Construction could begin as soon as a month after that, with the project completed in the fall of 2006, said Kerry Dixon-Fox, project manager.

Private fund raising for the Morrill Hall renovation is nearly complete. The only state money in the project is $850,000 for general use classrooms that was in a four-year, multi-million dollar state appropriation to upgrade ISU classrooms and auditoriums. The rest of the $9 million renovation cost is private gifts.

Another pre-construction process scheduled for this fall is the removal of lead paint, mold and asbestos from Morrill Hall.

The tenants selected for a renovated Morrill are the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, University Museums' Christian Petersen Art Museum, and the College of Family and Consumer Sciences' Center for Visual Learning in Textiles and Clothing.

An electrical upgrade to Morrill Hall and the Hub, under way now, won't affect traffic on Morrill Road. The project is expected to be completed in early January. Lead paint, mold and asbestos will be removed from Morrill Hall sometime this fall. Private fund raising to renovate Morrill Hall is nearly complete.