More green space for Teepee Drive

The northern end of Midwestern State University's Teepee Drive isn't yet a lush oasis of green space — but it soon will be.

The $200,000 project between Killingsworth and Clark Student Center is under way, with a backhoe ripping up concrete this week while the weather cooperates, according to Kyle Owen, facilities department vice president.

"Having no rain helps," Owen said Monday. "But we need rain toward the end of it so we can plant grass."

The project, which is expected to be complete by early August, is one of the more visible improvements of a dozen projects under way at the campus during the summer.

Others, like the $26,000 installation of a grease trap at the Clark Student Center, are necessary upgrades that will be invisible to most, Owen said.

The Teepee Drive expansion had been talked about for years but finally became a priority when the road needed repair.

"We needed to resurface it or move forward with the idea of creating more green space," Owen said.

Students also may notice the installation of new lights for the soccer and softball fields, a project launched with the help of the city of Wichita Falls that will begin in mid-July and be complete by Sept. 1.

The new lights will enable night softball play and NCAA Division II soccer competitions, which are now against regulations because the lights sit too close to the soccer fields.

MSU tennis courts were resurfaced in May, a $32,000 improvement.

Another easy-to-see improvement: A newly refurbished Akin Auditorium. Seats were removed, repainted, and reupholstered while the floor underneath was removed, abated and replaced with new vinyl floor tiles.

The aisleways were recarpeted.

Newly discovered water leaks on the south end of the auditorium also will be weatherproofed, Owen said. The Akin Auditorium project cost $151,000, not including resealing the south side wall and redirecting roof drains.

The Comanche Suites — the larger banquet room in the Clark Student Center — will also be renovated with $46,000 in new chair rails, baseboards, paint and carpet.

The Fain Fine Arts dressing rooms, located near the north end of the building's auditorium, will be retiled for $7,500.

In the Bolin Science Hall, several offices will receive new carpet — a $27,000 expense.

Other campus projects address infrastructure.

Roofs on McCullough dorm and the Paint Shop that were shingled in the 1980s are being replaced for about $25,000.

A transformer located on the athletic field will be replaced at a cost of $72,000. "The lights work today, and they'll work when they finish, so most people won't see any change. But if it failed, it wouldn't be something you could fix quickly. It had lifed out," Owen said.

The Clark Student Center grease trap project is an improvement only city code inspectors could love, Owen said. "The old one required a lot of pumping and is not as effective as it needed to be."

The MSU Central Plant's chill water system has been updated over the past decade but still uses the original water tank, which needs replacing for $40,000. "Ouch, not a fun one," Owen said of the expense.

The university also must remove a diesel storage tank located underground on the north side of the Central Plant. "It was originally installed so boilers could operate off of it," Owen said. "We wouldn't dream of trying to fire it up with diesel now. We need to remove it ... we can't leave it there forever."

That project, which will start Sept. 1, is part of the university's decision to "clean things up," he said.

The four-year, two-phase, $16.9 million D.L. Ligon renovation project is nearing completion this summer, Owen said, with only minor projects left that can be completed by Owen's maintenance crew.

Michael Mills, MSU director of Housing, said his main summer project — besides routine maintenance throughout the dorms — is installing new carpet and painting rooms at Sunwatcher Village.