With the awaited anticipation of the bubble going up north of Wayne State College, some final prep work is still needed now that the ground has dried up.
Several construction rain days have not allowed work to be done on the bubble while other items are moving along for the Athletic Recreation Construction project.
Director of Athletics at Wayne State College, Mike Powicki said the goal has been to get the inner area to dry out to put turf down and the bubble structure up.
“Based on the weather that we’ve had and then obviously as you lose certain days to achieve certain milestones of the project you have to bring those subs back,” said Powicki. “Sometimes that doesn’t work for their schedule, so it gets a little bit complicated.”
The goal of the inner pre-work is to be completed in the next week along with pouring asphalt for the track. Once cured, the fabric of the bubble will follow as installers were on campus about a month ago when it was too wet.
Fabric for the bubble will now be put up in mid-August to end of August which could take about two weeks of installation.
“Not necessarily to just blow it up, obviously it has to be installed and the cabling has to be installed,” Powicki added. “But then obviously in the inside you got to install the netting system, the lighting and all that. Then they’ll look to wrap up the inner portion of the bubble after that which would be the turf and pouring the mondo for the track and all those finishing touches.”
The idea would then be to have Wayne State College take over possession of the bubble in October.
Initially, three phases were set for the Athletic Recreation Construction project but due to weather, one phase has allowed construction to be done when able to.
Tremendous progress has been made to the north side of the current recreation center which will connect to the link that leads out to the new bubble structure. Painting and tiling continues which will offer the new track and field locker rooms, athletic training space and general patron restrooms.
Another big portion is filling in the alleyway among new construction connected in-between both the Rec Center and Rice Auditorium. The old awning and steps also had demolition on the east side of the Rec Center with more work offering mechanical, HVAC and plumbing that hasn’t been done for more than 70 years.
The planned end date has been December of 2024 with another month of construction still needed. Wayne State College will be working with Hausmann Construction to wrap up everything by end of January and the start of the Spring 2025 semester.
“Once the bubble gets closed in that will really provide a controlled environment to get a lot of that work done,” Powicki mentioned. “So, that’s really where you’re seeing the delays is just when you’re exposed to the elements you have to start rearranging your subs and all those kinds of things but we’re making progress. Hausmann is doing a great job, RDG, our architect is doing a great job of just trying to work through it and figure out how to make progress when we’ve had all this weather.”
Prior to school beginning, construction equipment will be put back in the gated zone with the staged area to be cleared to allow for students to return to lot one parking. Temporary parking will be offered in the lower grass area north of lot one during home WSC football, volleyball and women’s soccer weekends.
The biggest set of accommodations will be the Fall 2024 semester with the Rec Center not open. Campus officials are working hard to open the general student weight room open with some cardiovascular equipment being moved over to the Brandenburg Education Building where a handful of administrative offices have been relocated.
Powicki said student-athletes will also be impacted with less facilities available during October – December when the months start getting cooler.
“It’s the cost of progress and we’ve got great staff; it doesn’t come without frustration,” said Powicki. “Everybody understands that this is what we have to do to get through it. They’re willing to accommodate that and knowing that when we come out on the other side of this project we’re going to have some phenomenal facilities to show for it.”
Wayne State College has also been working with the Community Activity Center for some intramural programming.
