Officials at Southern Connecticut State University chose the oldest building on campus to mark the groundbreaking for the newest at midday Friday.
This spring the school commences construction on a four-story, $48 million, 94,750-square-foot brick building that will house the school’s College of Health & Human Services. The project, with a total price tag of $56 million — 100-percent paid for by state bond funds — is expected to take two years from start to finish.
SCSU President Joe Bertolini presided over a festive gathering inside Pelz Gymnasium, the oldest building on the campus of the former New Haven State Teachers College, erected in 1953. The new building will rise between the gymnasium and Fitch Street.
The facility will house teaching and training spaces, lecture halls, a culinary teaching kitchen and human-performance laboratories. According to school officials, active learning spaces, natural light and ergonomic furnishings were prioritized in the design of the space.
SCSU President Bertolino emceed Friday’s groundbreaking ceremony inside Pelz Gymnasium.
The Southern academic departments to be housed there include Communications Disorders, Heath & Movement Sciences, Nursing, Public Health and Recreation, Tourism and Sports Management.
The building’s exterior was designed by the New Haven firm of Svigals + Partners. The interior was designed by the Charlotte, N.C.-headquartered Little Diversified Architectural Consulting.
Construction manager for the project is Turner Construction of New Haven.
In undertaking a major construction project such as this, his school is “gaining the physical resources to prepare students for success in a knowledge-based economy,” Bertolino said. “The work we do is life-changing to those we service.”
And because Southern is, as Bertolino frequently proclaims as a point of perverse pride, “on the other side of the tracks from downtown New Haven,” naming rights for the new structure are still available.
