Prairie View scheduled for a make over

Prairie View A&M University is planning a number of development projects including a campus housing complex that will house graduate students, students with families, new faculty and staff, and military families by fall 2013.
According to governmental relations officer Frank Jackson, the housing complex will be built behind the Nathelyne Archie Kennedy building, next to Jones Elementary and constructed by American Campus Community.
Corey Bradford, senior vice president of business affairs said, "Groundbreaking for the housing complex will begin in October 2012. This will be a $15 million project and will expand the campus eastward."
E.M. Norris street in front of Carden-Waller Cooperative Extension Building will be extended and run into the future retail plans for the city of Prairie View and the new housing complex.
Other projects that will be carried out are retail plans, landscaping University Drive, a gas station, the recreation center, and new academic buildings.
Bradford said, "The retail plans for the City of Prairie View will be built a quarter of a mile from the intersection of University Drive and Owens Road. Inside of the 'mall structure' there will be a bowling alley, supermarket, sit-down restaurant, dry-cleaners, hair salon, dollar store, and a t-shirt company. The mall structure will also have three businesses that will be incubator businesses. The retail plans are expected to be complete by fall 2013."
Administration is waiting on feedback from the students, faculty, and staff on exactly what will go into the retail plans. The bowling alley, supermarket, sit-down restaurant are set in stone, but everything else is an idea. We want to bring something to the city of Prairie View that we don't have at this present time.
The retail plan project will cost $3.5 million to build.
"The university will pay the first capital investment to build the exterior of the mall structure. Each business that opens will have a lease agreement, pay rent, and also come in to construct how they want their store to be. This project will bring revenue to the city of Prairie View and more jobs will be available for students." said Jackson. He also stated there will be a seafood restaurant, next to the Subway.
Many of the students believe there should be extensive renovations to University Drive. Jackson revealed landscaping plans that will be completed in 2013.
The College of Architecture, the Physical Plant Administration, City of Prairie View, and the Texas Department of Transportation are working together on the $300,000 landscaping project.
There will be columns of bricks on every corner along both sides of University Drive including shrubs in between each column. This process will start from the light at the intersection of University Drive and Owens Road and continue along to U.S. Business 290.
There are plans for a gas station to be built on the vacant land next to the former Frenchy's chicken.
Clifton Leo Thomas Jr. member of the Board of Regents Texas A&M University System and owner and CEO of Speedy Stop Corporation, owns the land next to Frenchy's and is not sure about committing to the build yet.
Now that the university Student Recreation Center plans have been released, Chondra Johnson director of intramural and recreation sports said, "The cost of the center hasn't been finalized because the floor plans have not been finalized. The expected date for the blueprint to be finalized, is at the latest, December 2012. Groundbreaking will begin June 2013 and the tentative occupancy date is expected to be January 2015."
Bradford said, "There will be a parking lot built behind Hobart Taylor, which will be close to the Sports Complex also to be used for parking for the recreation center."
There is a $24 million budget for construction, but there will be an additional cost called soft cost. Soft cost includes furniture, fixtures, equipment, televisions, financing, planning, etc. The estimated cost is around $7 million according to Bradford. "The students will use the facility for free, but faculty, staff, and visitors will pay a fee to use the facility. It will be run similar to a YMCA or 24 hour fitness," he said.
Lastly, the university has plans to build new academic buildings to better our first class academic programs. "The university has plans to build a new College of Business and College of Agriculture that will open in fall 2015. These buildings will be built on the bottom end of Alumni Field, close to Juvenile Justice and Delco. The buildings will have a shared area that will include labs, classrooms, and a trading room floor," said Bradford.
This project will be 93,000 square feet and will cost around $38 million. The ROTC program will be moved into Hobart Taylor once the College of Business moves out. They will be using the field where the band currently practices.