Office relocation from Main Street to Blossom cost $995,000
After what’s seemed like one long game of musical chairs, the Office of the Bursar and the Registrar’s office will be moving in with University Technology Services at 1244 Blossom St., according to Derek Gruner, director of facilities planning and programming.
The bursar and registrar left their home in Petigru for 516/518 Main St. last year while Petigru underwent $3.5 million in renovations. Despite Facilities’ projections that the refurbishments would conclude by early summer, it’s still not finished.
So the services are moving once more; this time, they’ll take $995,000 of Institutional Capital Project Funds to settle on Blossom, across the street from the Honors Residence Hall. The funds are excess debt service funds that the university will have to pay back. Gruner attributed the near-million-dollar price tag is attributed to multiple renovations needed at the Blossom location.
The buildings now being used by the offices at 516 and 518 Main Street will still be used for “on-site records storage and administrative functions,” according to Gruner.
“The project includes four areas of renovation affecting approximately 26,960 square feet in varying levels of intensity,” Gruner said. “When compared to the cost of renovating their previous facility, Petigru College, which is now being converted to a classroom building, this project is an economical solution.”
The current location in the Main Street building was intended as a temporary base.
“Not all of their programmatic requirements were met within the spacial constraints of this building,” Gruner said of the Main Street location. “The building is not fully accessible to disabled students and vehicular access and parking is challenging. The student service components are expanding into the 1244 Blossom St. building to address the challenges posed by the current location.”
UTS, though, is staying put and will share space with the Bursar’s and Registrar’s offices. Jeff Farnham, associate vice president for information technology, believes that the move will be beneficial for students, and said he isn’t concerned with space restraints.
“The first floor is primarily a reception area for UTS that greets students and guests and assists them with finding the iCare Center or appropriate meetings as needed,” Farnham explained. “The other function housed on the first floor is the iCare Center for students and this will remain as is. This UTS service reception function will also continue while being combined with the Registrar and Bursar student services function.”
Gruner explained the changes to the Blossom Street building further in an email.
“The majority of the first floor, excluding iCare, will be renovated to contain the more public and student service areas of the Bursar and Registrar,” he wrote. “This will enable the building at 516/518 Main Street to provide on-site records storage and administrative functions once the service desk areas are relocated. Two UTS suites will be relocated from the first floor. One will relocate to the second floor and the other suite will move to an adjacent facility. The cost of this work is included in the project.”
Farnham said he wants to turn 1244 Blossom St. into a “one-stop” for student service and is looking forward to the move.
“We look forward to these expanded services for students in the near future,” he said.