$53M Builds UCI Center, Including Retail

IRVINE, CA-UC Irvine plans a new $53 million student center that will resemble a classic town square, with a new 169,000-sf mixed-use building, more than 60,000 sf of renovations and a 5,000-sf addition to an existing student center, according to Rossetti Architecture. Rossetti, which is teamed with PCL Construction to design and build the project, notes that construction is under way on the cross-cultural student center, which includes both an expansion and renovations.The $53 million undertaking is designed to create a more cohesive civic center for the campus. The improvements will include renovated dining and retail spaces, new meeting and conference areas and new administrative and student activity spaces. The idea behind the design is to incorporate these features into a classic town square, according to Carl F. Meyer, principal-in-charge at Rossetti, a 36-year-old firm whose other California projects include the Home Depot Center in Carson and the Indian Wells California Tennis Stadium Complex. The design firm describes the new center as comparable to the civic piazzas of southern Europe, with a central courtyard to take advantage of Southern California's climate and a signature tower for orientation.Rossetti partnered with PCL Construction during the early stages of the program in order to integrate the construction and design aspects with the goals of the university. The project is scheduled to be completed in 2007.The new student center joins a list of other projects either under way or completed in recent years at UCI, where officials in November said that 240 units of new student housing was ready for occupancy. Other projects in recent years have included the $20-million Robert R. Sprague Family Foundation Hall, part of the University's College of Medicine and the second major facility to be built within the UC Irvine Biomedical Research Center.