A children’s gallery at the Torggler Fine Arts Center and a facilities management building are among a full slate of construction and renovation projects at Christopher Newport University. Here’s a closer look:
New gallery at Torggler
The Interactive Art Explorer Gallery at the Torggler will feature “themed, interactive components designed to engage children of various ages in exploring, understanding, and creating visual arts,” according to an capital outlay program update presented this month to CNU’s Board of Visitors. It will occupy 1,480 square feet.
Richmond-based Riggs Ward, a design and media-development company that specializes in exhibits and audio visual media, is the exhibit designer. Private donors are funding the $650,000 cost, according to Jim Hanchett, CNU’s chief communications officer.
Facilities management
CNU also is moving forward with a 62,000-square-foot replacement for its plant operations and warehouse. The estimated cost is $45.7 million.
The university’s plant operations and warehouse occupies a former grocery store across Warwick Boulevard east of the central campus. CNU said that 65-year-old building no longer adequately supports the university’s facility management or housekeeping administration, central receiving or trades shops. Construction is expected to begin in October. The old facilities building will be demolished.
The Mary M. Torggler Fine Arts Center at Christopher Newport University. (Kendall Warner/The Virginian-Pilot, File)
Military sciences
Hanchett said the state has provided funding for the planning and design of a new ROTC building.
The current military science building is a former 2,485-square-foot split level house, built in 1964. It was remodeled to serve as offices and storage. “The facility cannot host classes for the cadets, so courses are held in classrooms on campus,” Hanchett said in an email. It also needs major repairs and is too small to accommodate CNU’s enrollment of about 70 Army ROTC students.
“Additionally, this fall, CNU entered a cross-registration agreement with Hampton University to allow students to participate in the Naval ROTC program,” Hanchett said. “The new 6,830-square-foot facility will provide office space, conference space, storage, and classroom space.”
The project’s design also includes 9,000 square feet of covered training space.
Science and engineering center
CNU recently completed an expansion of the Science and Engineering Research Center, with the addition of about 75,000 square feet. The $85.4 million project adds space for STEM-related academic disciplines. It also included the renovation of nearly 9,000 square feet of existing space.
Ferguson Center updates
CNU is replacing the Ferguson Center’s roof and two large HVAC units. Those projects will cost about $3 million and $1.59 million, respectively.
Hanchett said the roof replacement and first half of the HVAC replacement should be finished next month. The second HVAC unit should be installed by July.
Sections of the building originally were part of the former Ferguson High School. Built in the mid-1950s, the school closed in the mid-1990s. Parts of the old school were incorporated into the performing arts complex, which opened about 20 years ago.
“These projects represent Christopher Newport University’s continued commitment to investing in facilities that support our students as they live and learn on our campus, which we believe is a true asset to Newport News,” Chip Filer, CNU’s vice president of facilities and campus operations, said in a statement.
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