Wharton bldg. slightly delayed

Construction on the new building is set to start in May or June. When outgoing Wharton School Dean Thomas Gerrity announced his resignation in October, he maintained that the University would still break ground for the soon-to-be-constructed $120 million Wharton building next spring and that the facility would become operational in 2001. But officials now say it is doubtful that major construction will begin before the summer of 1999. Administrators gave different reasons as to what is causing the delay of plans to demolish the old University Bookstore building at 38th Street and Locust Walk, where the new classroom building will be located. The projected date of demolition was tentatively changed to May or June because the project planners are still waiting for completion of the design, which administrators said has taken longer than expected. University President Judith Rodin said Wednesday that demolition and construction will begin in the summer, not the spring. Only rough guidelines were sketched out for the completion of each stage of the project, according to Vice President for Facilities Services and Contract Management Omar Blaik, who maintained that no official dates had been pushed back. But according to Rodin, the project will not begin in earnest until the summer months so as not to inconvenience students who have put up with campus-wide construction projects for the last several years. Blaik, though, said he still hopes the project can start closer to the time period originally planned, but that the prospects of such a start were unlikely due to the complexity of the design process. "Given how the design demands are [now], we're thinking more like June," Blaik said. In November, University Council's Facilities Committee unveiled its year-end report, in which members criticized the University's plan to build a 134-foot rotunda atop the new classroom building. Members said the sheer size of the tower -- already located on one of the highest points on campus -- would overshadow adjacent buildings on Locust Walk. But despite the committee report, which was discussed at Wednesday's Council meeting, Blaik said the the delay was based on the "very sophisticated, complex" nature of the design and not an "architectural critique," as Blaik called the committee's complaint. The design, according to Blaik, is in the second of three stages -- that of design development -- which follows schematic design and precedes construction documents. Officials would not reveal the building's specific design plan. Once completed, it is intended to become Wharton's main classroom building and house vastly expanded computing facilities for the school.

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