Renovations at Chase, Wilson and Beard Halls total $45.1 million

UNC plans to spend $45.1 million to renovate three buildings across campus — Wilson Hall, Beard Hall and Chase Dining Hall. 

On March 23, the Board of Trustees discussed the construction to come. Changes should all be complete in 2018 or 2019.

More space at Chase Dining Hall

Increasing traffic at Chase Dining Hall, more commonly known as Rams Head Dining Hall, led to talks about renovation.

“It is very crowded, especially at dinner time,” said Brandon Thomas, spokesperson for Carolina Dining Services. 

Thomas said the renovations should alleviate some overcrowding at the dining hall.

“It’s still kind of in the planning process, but there is about 5,000 square feet of existing space that could accommodate new seating,” Thomas said. “There is a lot of area upstairs on the second floor, but they’re also looking at the area outside, like Rams Plaza.”

The goal of the renovation is to accommodate 150 to 200 more students.

It is not clear at this stage what the dining hall will look like after the renovations, but Thomas said if the seating is on the second floor, there will be a beverage station on the second floor, as well.

The budgeted amount for the project is about $3.9 million. The projected start date for the renovation is October 2017, with a prospective completion date of July 2018. 

Wilson Hall annex renovation

Wilson Hall is set to receive new instructional and research laboratories and an animal facility for the department of biology, according to the agenda of the finance, infrastructure and audit committee of the Board of Trustees. 

“It’s going to benefit students and teachers in terms of having new, state-of-the-art teaching laboratories and classrooms,” Department of Biology Chairperson Victoria Bautch said. “We also are building significant research space that will be more efficient and flexible for the researchers working there.” 

Bautch said the specifics of the animal facility could not be disclosed.

The renovations aim to fix some of the features of the building that no longer comply with current building codes. 

Researchers have already started moving out of Wilson Hall to begin the process. The project is budgeted at about $31.5 million with a projected completion date of 2019. 

“We’re hoping that it not only works better, but that it looks better as well,” Bautch said.

Changes for Beard Hall underway

Pharmacy school classrooms, clinical simulation spaces and accessibility deficiencies will all be addressed with the renovation of the second floor of Beard Hall.

David Etchison, spokesperson for UNC's School of Pharmacy, said the renovations have started and are well underway.

“We have more flexible classroom space in that it can be configured to multiple uses, in some cases, multiple sizes as rooms can be separated and joined,” Etchison said. 

Much of the extra classroom space is being produced from the removal of wet labs, which have been relocated to Marsico Hall. 

Etchison said replacing the ventilation system was the main element of the renovation. The system was original to the building, which was built in 1957.

The renovation is budgeted at about $9.7 million with a projected completion date of April 2018. 

“It’s a very nice reuse of space that we already have,” Etchison said. “It’s a great way to recycle a building.”

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