No plans yet for music building's construction

The administration has yet to make any concrete plans for the construction of the new music building, a project that has been in the works for about three years.

No exact dates or detailed plans for construction have been set, according to Vice President of Operations John Roberto, because the University still has not raised the $13 million it needs to break ground.

A recent $2 million gift from Stephen Distler (LA '74) and his wife Roxanne Kendall (LA '75) brought the total funding for the project to $10.5 million.

The planning process for the new music facility began in 1999, when an anonymous donor gave $4 million towards the project. Since then, the project's expected price tag has spiraled from $8 million to $20 million.

Even if the groundbreaking for the music facility occurs sooner than expected, few current Tufts students will likely be here to see the building's completion. In comparison, the construction of Dowling Hall, a $14 million project that began in December 1998, was completed in the spring of 2000. An unusually harsh winter between 1999 and 2000 caused a short delay in opening the building.

One indication of the where University is in the planning process is the level of staffing in the administrative area of construction. The position of Director of Construction, for example, is vacant after the previous director left to pursue other career options.

The number of staff members in the construction division fluctuates according to the University's need, Roberto said. As there is little construction work going on at the moment, personnel needs are low.

"As projects advance, we assess our staffing level," Roberto said, and add employees as needed. "In the past, we have not had a problem being adequately staffed."

Construction on the music building also has the potential to disrupt traffic on the corner of Professors Row and Packard Ave., but the University has yet to make any plans to alter traffic and parking patterns.

"Every time you have a major project, there are always issues with access to the site and disruption caused by the actual construction activity," Roberto said.

Such concerns are usually addressed closer to the actual construction period, according to John King, the director of public and environmental safety. "We will try to minimize any inconvenience from a parking standpoint and also for traffic up and down the street," he said.

Tufts has previous experience in maintaining infrastructures during construction. The University once opened four major buildings in one year with minimal impact to students, Roberto said.

In Cambridge, MIT has recently completed two major construction projects _ a new dormitory and fitness center _ as part of a $1 billion campus facelift. In order to coordinate these projects, MIT. "created a new area within the department of facilities called the Capital Projects Group," said Ruth Davis, the manager of communications for the university's department of facilities.

The construction projects at MIT did create problems and disrupt community life, Davis said, but the university dealt with these issues in innovative ways. For instance, the university created a website to communicate construction progress to the university and surrounding communities.

These same updates were printed in both the student newspaper and official university publications, and posted on signs around campus. "People were inconvenienced, but they [didn't] mind as long as they knew what was going to happen," Davis said.

MIT also hired an outside consultant to create a "major traffic plan for automobile and pedestrian traffic so that everything was done in an organized fashion," Davis said. Planning for such projects can take up to two years before ground is broken, she said.

Tufts has no such plans in place for the construction of the new music building, but administrators believe that it is too early to begin detailed preparation. From a construction point of view, there is currently "not much happening," Roberto said.