Information Charlottesville

The Buildings and Grounds Committee of the University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors met on Thursday and got an update on capital projects and the next master plan. Colette Sheehy is the executive vice president and chief operating officer at UVA. 

“So this is the time of year when we ask for approval of the newly revised Major Capital Plan,” Sheehy said. “You’ll recall that we reviewed it with you in March.” 

The last Major Capital Plan adopted last year was for $3.1 billion worth of projects and several of those have been completed since then such as the University Hospital Expansion, the orthopedic center on Ivy Road, and the student health and wellness center on Brandon Avenue. 

“We have a lot going on,” Sheehy said. “Thirty-one percent of the value of the entire capital program represents projects under construction and we are going to have a very busy 24 months coming up as many of these projects reach conclusion.” 

The landscaping and the infrastructure for the Emmet-Ivy Corridor should be completed by next spring. Renovations of Alderman Library and construction of the Contemplative Commons should be completed in the fall of 2023.

“The School of Data Science will follow on the heels in December of 2023 and then the following spring, late spring, early summer, the Brandon Avenue undergraduate residence hall,” Sheehy said. 

Sheehy said the next plan will include several design studies as well as eight new projects, four of which were not on the list in March. One of them would be for student housing at the Darden School of Business. 

“They are proposing to build about 440 beds that would house two-thirds of their residential MBA students,” Sheehy said. “It is something that competitor business schools do.” 

There is no cost estimate for that project, which would offer a range of options for students and their families. (read a fact sheet) 

Sheehy said another project is to construct a 1,000 space parking garage, but she did not elaborate on its location. A fact sheet states the cost estimate is $54 million and would replace parking in the existing Emmet Ivy Parking Garage that will be dedicated to uses such as the future hotel, the Karsh Institute of Democracy, and the School of Data Science. 

“The current parking inventory displaced by the Ivy Corridor redevelopment must be met in a location that serves multiple constituencies and links effectively to transit,” reads the fact sheet. 

Other new projects are renovations to the physics building as well as Pinn Hall. 

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