Regents approve master plan for future of ABAC campus

Published 10:12 pm Thursday, January 12, 2006

By Dusty Vassey

With its master plan approved, Abraham Baldwin College is on its way to the future.

Interim ABAC President Tom Call presented the college’s master plan to the University System of Georgia Board of Regents Tuesday in Atlanta and the plan was approved.

“That plan is really a road map to the future for the physical face of the campus,” said ABAC public relations director Mike Chason. “The Board of Regents thought it was an excellent plan and they’re going to go forward with it.”

The plan calls for new buildings, parking options, student housing, a perimeter road around the college and several academic buildings over the next 10 to 15 years.

“If enrollment continues at the present pace, we could have 6,000 students by the year 2020,” said Chason.

Chason said that the school is preparing for up to 10,000 students in its long-range plans.

He said that approval of the master plan is important because the college cannot propose new buildings if they are not part of the master plan. Several pieces of the plan are already under construction or will be in the near future.

The Health Sciences Building, a joint project with Tift Regional Medical Center, has an anticipated finish date of August. The $7.2 million building covers 41,424 square feet and is located at the former site of Creswell Hall on ABAC Circle.

“We should be able to have students in the building when fall term classes begin in late August,” Chason said. “It’s going to be used primarily for nursing students.”

The college also recently completed its Pedestrian Mall, a $1.5 million project. The 12-foot-wide walkway leads north and south through the center of the campus and also west to ABAC Place Apartments and east to the site of the Health Sciences Building.

“We’re doing a need survey now for the new campus housing,” said Chason.

In 2004, the college completed construction on ABAC Place and the privatized apartment complex has been filled to its 835-student capacity ever since. Chason said preliminary plans call for a second privatized complex for about 400 students. The site of the apartments would likely be placed on the north side of Lake Baldwin.

“We hope to have the new housing in place by the fall of 2008,” he said.

Another big project will be making room for the new ABAC women’s soccer team, which begins play this year. Plans are under way to construct a soccer complex on the campus. The complex would include an intercollegiate soccer field, an intramural soccer field and two intramural softball fields. The fields would be placed on the south side of the ABAC Tennis Center just east of the Fillies softball field.

College officials hope to receive planning funds from this year’s state legislative session to begin preparations for renovating the three original buildings at ABAC. If the preparation funds are approved this year, the college would then need the construction funds approved the following year.

Tift Hall, Lewis Hall and Herring Hall were the original buildings when ABAC opened classes Feb. 20, 1908. Chason said the college would like to have a $10 million renovation project started at the halls by the college’s 100th anniversary in 2008.



To contact reporter Dusty Vassey, call 382-4321, ext. 208.