MUNCIE, Ind. - While the Art and Journalism Building, Ball State’s first new academic building in a decade, will be getting a lot of attention these next few weeks, many other campus projects are just beginning or are nearing completion.

Below is an update on various projects.

Music Instruction Building - Site preparation began this summer with utility work and demolition of some structures for a new $21 million Music Instruction Building to sit at McKinley and Riverside avenues. The facility will house a 600-seat performance hall, choral and instrumental rehearsal rooms, faculty studios, practice rooms and a new home for the Music Engineering Technology (MET) Studios. More details about site preparation and how it will affect parking will be announced later this fall.

Parking Garage - A new 600-space parking garage to be located immediately south of the music building is in the design stage, said Kevin Kenyon, associate vice president of facilities planning and management. “The structure will blend very well with the architecture of the music building and the Old Quad,” he said. The construction schedule for the $8 million structure will be determined this fall and will be funded as part of the university parking system.

Center for International Programs - Remodeling of the Delaware Room, the space recently occupied by the Daily News, and a portion of the food court in the L.A. Pittenger Student Center will provide a new home for the Center for International Programs. The center’s current building along Calvert Avenue will be torn down this fall as part of site preparation for the Music Instruction Building.

Football Stadium - Work is nearly complete on the second phase of the three-phase stadium renovation project. The improvements include 3,092 new seats and facilities allowing for year-round football training. Football practices began in the new building earlier this month. New, advanced strength-training equipment such as an underwater treadmill and swim flume are included. Other enhancements include new meeting spaces with a centralized video management system, new showers and locker rooms. The $6 million project is being funded by private gifts.

Shafer Tower - Work will continue this fall on Ball State's 145-foot carillon tower along McKinley Avenue. The $3 million tower, paid for by private gifts, will contain bells with a range of four octaves that will make it possible to provide a variety of concert-quality musical presentations.

Fine Arts Building - December is the targeted month for $7.5 million in renovations to all floors of the Fine Arts Building to be complete. Improvements include a new public entryway and increased gallery space for the Ball State Museum of Art, and a new space for the geology and social work departments and the Social Science Resource Center.

West Quad - A $3.5 million project to renovate the exterior and portions of the interior of the West Quad academic building is on schedule for use in the spring semester. The work includes a new electronic classroom, a computer lab, a student lounge and graduate student offices for natural resources and environmental management, a new stair tower and lobby windows open to the historic Old Quadrangle.

Cooper Labs - Extensive renovations during a two-year project to 34 labs in Cooper Life Science Building and Cooper Physical Science Building have been completed this summer. The $5.3 million renovations include wireless labs and many new safety features. Departments benefiting are biology, geology, physiology and health science, chemistry, and physics and astronomy.

By Nancy Prater, Web Editor

(NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information, contact Kevin Kenyon by e-mail at kkenyon@bsu.edu or by phone at (765) 285-8988.)