SUNY Buffalo State continues to build and renovate its campus with a number of new projects in queue for Spring 2016, throughout Spring 2017 and beyond.

Regarding Caudell Hall, the construction is finishing up soon and is on track to be completed around Summer 2016, but the building will not actually open until 2017. This is because the college will spend Fall 2016 equipping the building with all that is necessary. It is planned to open by the spring semester of 2017.

Caudell Hall will present itself with a brand new lobby entrance, classrooms and offices. It will add new kitchens and food labs for both the Hospitality and Tourism and Health, Nutrition and Dietetics programs. The focus on the redesign of the building emphasizes itself as “part of the plaza.” No longer will Caudell Hall have downward-leading stairs to reach the front door, as it will have a plaza-level entrance.

Buffalo State’s construction and renovation has been ongoing for many years now. Over the past five years the campus has remodeled the Student Union, the Math and Science Building, and added buildings like the Student Apartment Complex and the Technology Building. It seems the college still has many more projects they wish to take on.

Buffalo State is planning an Alumni House and Visitor Center, which will be the namesake for Jacqueline V. LoRusso, ’62, ’64, who donated $500,000 to the construction of this new center. The Center will serve both as a “home” for alumni, as well as a welcoming station for the Rees-Grant Street entrance. Currently, there is no real welcoming center.

The Jacqueline V. LoRusso Alumni House and Visitor Center will serve as a second location for admissions tours to run. There will be plenty of room for small gatherings of up to about 100 people. It will also house the Alumni Affairs Office.

“The Grant Street entrance could really use that welcome, I think,” said Steven Shaffer, manager of design and construction at Buffalo State. “It’s a small project, but in a fairly prominent location.”

Buffalo State’s largest project, a full renovation of the Math and Science building, is now complete, ending phase two, Shaffer said.

“Phase three will complete the project,” Shaffer said. “It will add a new entrance lobby, three lecture halls, new labs and office space, a new planetarium, and a greenhouse. We will begin to solicit bidders [to begin building] this summer.”

Perhaps the most necessary project coming to Buffalo State is the addition of new housing and the renovation of certain classroom buildings into housing for students. While the housing project on Grant Street is not necessarily a Buffalo State project, it is still projected to begin the early stages of development soon. The housing project on Grant Street is being done by a private construction company known as Greenleaf. Greenleaf has already cleared away the old housing units that occupied the space where they planned on putting this new housing development.

“[Greenleaf] may be willing to start by Spring 2016,” Shaffer said.

Shaffer shared that although he doesn’t know too much about the Greenleaf project at the moment, Buffalo State has plans to renovate Bishop Hall into student housing for incoming students, which will move the current occupants of Bishop Hall into Buckham Hall, located near STAC.

Renovation in Buckham Hall’s D-Wing have already begun. It will have new office spaces and classrooms as well, to accommodate those moving from Bishop to Buckham.

There is currently no plan to continue renovating the Towers in the same way that Towers 1 and 4 have been, however there is asbestos abatement still ongoing.

Students have a lot to look forward to with all the new renovations, but there are still some unfulfilled wishes.

Senior criminal justice major Marc Figueroa said that he would like to see more rooms dedicated to hands-on or field learning for all majors in all academic buildings.

“Something like a crime scene room for criminal justice majors,” Figueroa said. “Or like a daycare for education majors, to provide some kind of field work.”

Livvy Hall, a junior writing major would like to see more dining choices around campus.

“I’d say late-night dining is a must, especially in the areas that’ll be frequented by students,” Hall said. “But anything that can bring in more on-campus jobs would be great.”

Those interested in reading and learning more about past, present, and future building projects at Buffalo State are encouraged to visit the Facilities Planning website at facilities.buffalostate.edu.

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