Students get creative navigating east side of campus

By Richard Edgemon

Published Aug 24, 2018

Construction crews install new waterline on W. Cantey Street for the fashion merchandising building.

When students left for summer break, construction on the east side of campus was just beginning with the clearing of land behind Moudy North.

Now students can see two story tall support beams where an empty field was four months ago.

Construction crews start welding on the frame of the fashion merchandising building (photo by Richard Edgemon).

Those construction beams are the skeleton for the new fashion merchandising building that will be a part of the new creative commons.

The Creative Commons will include the new building for Fashion Merchandising, Graphic Design and Interior Design, Moudy North and Moudy South, and the new music building and several walking paths and green space.

To construct the design as planned, the layout of the east side of campus needed to be changed.

Last semester, the parking lot behind Brite Divinity School was closed; the parking lot will be the site of the new music building.

Crews install new waterline on W. Cantey for new fashion merchandising building (photo by Richard Edgemon).

Half of a new parking lot was opened this week on Merida Avenue to accommodate commuter students. The rest of the spaces will be available by September.

In addition to the parking lot, sections of several roads will be closed for this project, some permanently and others just temporarily.

According to documents provided by TCU, sections of Princeton Street and Greene Avenue will be closed in late August after crews complete the construction work on W. Lowden Street and pour the concrete for the new fire lane that will run behind the divinity school and connect Princeton to Lowden.

On the other side of the Moudy buildings, construction crews have closed off W. Cantey Street while they install a new water line for the fashion and merchandising building. That work is scheduled to be completed by September.

While not part of the creative commons, construction for the new building for the Neeley School of Business is being continues.

About 200 people are working on the exterior masonry and glass, putting up drywall and installing in-wall electrical, plumbing and mechanical pipes and ductwork, project manager Brooke Ruesch said. The crane on the construction site is scheduled to be taken down this weekend.

The new fashion merchandising building and the Neely building are scheduled to be completed in fall and December of 2019, respectively. The new music building is scheduled to be completed by 2020.