UDM Construction Projects

[hybridy]

the old u of d has been busy updating its mcnichols campus within the past 5 years.

-commerce and finance - completely remodeled
-chemistry - undergoing renovation
-architecture - undergoing additional renovations
-new health professions building
-new student fitness center http://www.udmercy.edu/alumni/econne..._Center_4p.pdf
-clock tower refurbished

new campus identity/entrances
http://www.udmercy.edu/facilitiesmgt...tion/index.htm

in addition, udm is remodeling at the law school riverfront campus

[mwilbert]

This all sounds good, but I'll never get over them knocking down the football stadium.

[BrushStart]

I also heard that UDM is completing a full renovation of their law school building downtown on E. Jefferson. A friend of mine said that they had considered moving the law school to the McNichols campus earlier this year but that students and alumni overwhelming objected [[no pun intended). Apparently, UDM had considered moving the law school into the Wayne County Building, but doing so would have been too costly. IIRC, the UDM School of Dentistry on MLK has also received some upgrades.

[professorscott]

Also, the campus at Livernois and McNichols has gotten slightly larger, since we have just absorbed and enclosed the city block that once housed Brent Hospital. [[Florence now dead-ends just west of Fairfield and Dexter dead-ends just north of Puritan.) That space will be used for parking which we will need because the new student fitness center is going to eat up one entire current parking lot, just about.

Lots of exciting things happening! I'm hoping our new President gets the University more involved with community development. We're the anchor of a big neighborhood and we could do more than we're doing now IMHO.

[Gistok]

My alma mater... I got part of my undergrad from that school, and my grad degree from the Business School, but I had always thought the Commerce and Finance Building was long overdue for a rehab.... good news!!

professorscott... are Profs Shoemaker and Jovanovich still there?

Gotta go check it out....

[artds]

I also heard that UDM is completing a full renovation of their law school building downtown on E. Jefferson. A friend of mine said that they had considered moving the law school to the McNichols campus earlier this year but that students and alumni overwhelming objected [[no pun intended). Apparently, UDM had considered moving the law school into the Wayne County Building, but doing so would have been too costly. IIRC, the UDM School of Dentistry on MLK has also received some upgrades.

Back when I was applying to law school and visiting various schools, I took a visit to UDM and received that same pitch from the tour guide about the law school having plans to either relocate or rennovate. That was in 2005.

[bartock]

Also, the campus at Livernois and McNichols has gotten slightly larger, since we have just absorbed and enclosed the city block that once housed Brent Hospital. [[Florence now dead-ends just west of Fairfield and Dexter dead-ends just north of Puritan.) That space will be used for parking which we will need because the new student fitness center is going to eat up one entire current parking lot, just about.

Lots of exciting things happening! I'm hoping our new President gets the University more involved with community development. We're the anchor of a big neighborhood and we could do more than we're doing now IMHO.

I didn't know this, wow!

Guess it's been a couple of years since I've been back. No more climbing the fence to get from Fairfield to campus during off-hours?

[jcole]

I didn't know this, wow!

Guess it's been a couple of years since I've been back. No more climbing the fence to get from Fairfield to campus during off-hours?

My daughter did that and ended up at Providence with a torn open palm, but of course, MY little girl wasn't drinking or anything [[ho, ho, ho)

[professorscott]

I didn't know this, wow!

Guess it's been a couple of years since I've been back. No more climbing the fence to get from Fairfield to campus during off-hours?

No need to climb the fence anymore; there's a turnstile with an ID card reader [[although it's temporarily off line during the construction)

[hybridy]

Also, the campus at Livernois and McNichols has gotten slightly larger, since we have just absorbed and enclosed the city block that once housed Brent Hospital. [[Florence now dead-ends just west of Fairfield and Dexter dead-ends just north of Puritan.) That space will be used for parking which we will need because the new student fitness center is going to eat up one entire current parking lot, just about.

Lots of exciting things happening! I'm hoping our new President gets the University more involved with community development. We're the anchor of a big neighborhood and we could do more than we're doing now IMHO.

i certainly hope public safety pays that larger lot some attention...its a bit far from the quads. plenty of cars were broken into in my day

[bartock]

My daughter did that and ended up at Providence with a torn open palm, but of course, MY little girl wasn't drinking or anything [[ho, ho, ho)

...those damned Sigma Pi crazies.

[jcole]

...those damned Sigma Pi crazies.

No, she was Theta Tau. Damn engineering crazies ;-)

[agrahlma]

My alma mater... I got part of my undergrad from that school, and my grad degree from the Business School, but I had always thought the Commerce and Finance Building was long overdue for a rehab.... good news!!

professorscott... are Profs Shoemaker and Jovanovich still there?

Gotta go check it out....

Shoemaker - wow - I have not heard that name in a long time. I had some great conversations with him - great guy!!

[bartock]

No, she was Theta Tau. Damn engineering crazies ;-)

In that case, maybe she was just tired from the long walk!

[brizee]

I'm glad to see they are finally investing in their infrastructure.

The faculty is pretty great, but the Chemistry and Engineering buildings really do a disservice to the students and professors.

I would love for the campus to be a little bit more integrated into the community, something like WSU started doing about 10 years ago.

The return of football [[whenever that gets finalized) should be fun too.

[hybridy]

I'm glad to see they are finally investing in their infrastructure.

The faculty is pretty great, but the Chemistry and Engineering buildings really do a disservice to the students and professors.

I would love for the campus to be a little bit more integrated into the community, something like WSU started doing about 10 years ago.

The return of football [[whenever that gets finalized) should be fun too.

the university has long spoken about removing the fence, however, anyone living on campus would say different. florence was removed because someone was shot outside of holden hall in the 70's or 80's. many unsavory panhandlers tend to hang around the administration building/livernois entrance as well.

within the last 5 years, several students were jumped between the quads and the fraternity houses on fairfield. 1 kid was beat to the point he needed facial reconstructive surgery. i personally know of students robbed at shotgun point after they cashed their refund checks at the pied piper. i know of another who was shot in a drug deal gone bad south of campus near wyoming and fenkell.

currently, the campus is quiet, clean, and safe. outside the fence is anything but. all efforts that the university made to integrate into the neighborhood: new townhomes on puritan, new fitness center on west side of livernois never materialized. i wouldn't say the "boulevard" on livernois is much better. we watched from our design studios as workers dug up the old streetcar lines.

udm needs to continue to update it's campus and add new student housing and provide amenities on or near campus. the more they can stray from the "commuter school" moniker, the better.

[bartock]

the university has long spoken about removing the fence, however, anyone living on campus would say different. florence was removed because someone was shot outside of holden hall in the 70's or 80's. many unsavory panhandlers tend to hang around the administration building/livernois entrance as well.

within the last 5 years, several students were jumped between the quads and the fraternity houses on fairfield. 1 kid was beat to the point he needed facial reconstructive surgery. i personally know of students robbed at shotgun point after they cashed their refund checks at the pied piper. i know of another who was shot in a drug deal gone bad south of campus near wyoming and fenkell.

currently, the campus is quiet, clean, and safe. outside the fence is anything but. all efforts that the university made to integrate into the neighborhood: new townhomes on puritan, new fitness center on west side of livernois never materialized. i wouldn't say the "boulevard" on livernois is much better. we watched from our design studios as workers dug up the old streetcar lines.

udm needs to continue to update it's campus and add new student housing and provide amenities on or near campus. the more they can stray from the "commuter school" moniker, the better.

UDM 15 years ago was similar. In fact, the University District neighborhood was worse than it is now. When I was there, similar stories to what you've described above occurred. Living in that neighborhood in the summer was wild, much worse than the WSU neighborhood I lived in a couple of years later [[and that area was worse then than it is now also). I am pleasantly surprised at the way U of D seems to be growing themselves now, and wish they would have done some of these things when I was there. That exercise center especially looks great, I love how they are keeping the asthetic.

[Gary]

It's cool to see the ambitious growth plan the university has in place, UDM is a great school.

It's also sad to know that UDM has been compelled to build fences and close neighborhood streets in the interest of safety. Not that I blame them. I grew up 3 blocks from UDM in the 50s, 60s and 70s and the campus was an integral part of the neighborhood back then. We used to ride our bikes through there, we played baseball and touch football on the big athletic field south of Calihan Hall. Campus security never hasseled us because there was no need, we were clearly just neighborhood kids, not trouble makers. Times have changed, I pass by there once or twice a week and the campus still looks great, but it's kind of sad to see the place completely blocked off from the surrounding area.

Re: the return of football...that would be great, but I ain't holding my breath. I'm old enough to remember the frat boys' homecoming floats, and tuna sandwiches [[instead of hot dogs) for sale at Friday night football games. The Lions used to work out at the stadium too, we got to see them up close and personal a few times. Those were good days.

Bartock, what street were you living on in your UDM days?

[hybridy]

here is a campus photo prior to the fence. what i find interesting is that petoskey ave went further north and there looks to be homes on west side facing toward reno and holden. the fisher admin building looks pretty new as well, designed by Gunnar Birkerts.

[bartock]

It's cool to see the ambitious growth plan the university has in place, UDM is a great school.

It's also sad to know that UDM has been compelled to build fences and close neighborhood streets in the interest of safety. Not that I blame them. I grew up 3 blocks from UDM in the 50s, 60s and 70s and the campus was an integral part of the neighborhood back then. We used to ride our bikes through there, we played baseball and touch football on the big athletic field south of Calihan Hall. Campus security never hasseled us because there was no need, we were clearly just neighborhood kids, not trouble makers. Times have changed, I pass by there once or twice a week and the campus still looks great, but it's kind of sad to see the place completely blocked off from the surrounding area.

Re: the return of football...that would be great, but I ain't holding my breath. I'm old enough to remember the frat boys' homecoming floats, and tuna sandwiches [[instead of hot dogs) for sale at Friday night football games. The Lions used to work out at the stadium too, we got to see them up close and personal a few times. Those were good days.

Bartock, what street were you living on in your UDM days?

I lived on Fairfield.

I thought that the University was planning on having a club football team again.

[BrushStart]

Lots of exciting things happening! I'm hoping our new President gets the University more involved with community development. We're the anchor of a big neighborhood and we could do more than we're doing now IMHO.

One thing UDM could do is, if/when light rail is built, the school could offer a student shuttle from Woodward Ave to the campus on McNichols. This might encourage students to live along the Woodward Corridor instead of commuting from outside the city. You might capture the demographic of students who don't want to live on campus and also don't want to live 'just off' campus in that particular area, but may be willing to live downtown, Midtown, New Center or in Hamtramck. Also, as an alum, I'd pay to use it for Titan basketball games.

[professorscott]

One thing UDM could do is, if/when light rail is built, the school could offer a student shuttle from Woodward Ave to the campus on McNichols. This might encourage students to live along the Woodward Corridor instead of commuting from outside the city. You might capture the demographic of students who don't want to live on campus and also don't want to live 'just off' campus in that particular area, but may be willing to live downtown, Midtown, New Center or in Hamtramck. Also, as an alum, I'd pay to use it for Titan basketball games.

The City already provides a shuttle; it's called the McNichols bus and it runs about every 20 minutes all day and well into the evening. $1.50 gets you to Woodward in about six minutes.

[Neilr]

One thing UDM could do is, if/when light rail is built, the school could offer a student shuttle from Woodward Ave to the campus on McNichols. This might encourage students to live along the Woodward Corridor instead of commuting from outside the city. You might capture the demographic of students who don't want to live on campus and also don't want to live 'just off' campus in that particular area, but may be willing to live downtown, Midtown, New Center or in Hamtramck. Also, as an alum, I'd pay to use it for Titan basketball games.

There was a period during the mid 60's when the dorms at UofD were overcrowded. The college leased rooms at the now demolished Tuller Hotel on Grand Circus Park to house a good many of the upperclassmen. A shuttle was provided to and from the campus on, IIRC, an hourly basis.

[professorscott]

There was a period during the mid 60's when the dorms at UofD were overcrowded. The college leased rooms at the now demolished Tuller Hotel on Grand Circus Park to house a good many of the upperclassmen. A shuttle was provided to and from the campus on, IIRC, an hourly basis.

Then in the early 1980s when the Consortium of Catholic Colleges was operating [[Marygrove, Sacred Heart, Duns Scotus, Mercy, U of D) I seem to recall shuttle buses operating between at least some of the campuses. I think it was a combination of Duns Scotus ceasing operations, Sacred Heart becoming more insular, and the merger in 1990 of Mercy with U of D that killed off the Consortium.

[Gistok]

I still laugh every time I think of Dr. Shoemaker [[computer science professor) who moved to the Business School when Mercy College and U of D merged in 1990.

He sat in on a meeting with other faculty and some of the nuns/Jesuits... discussing a new name for the combined school. One of the nuns suggested "Catholic University of Michigan". When Dr. Shoemaker leaned over and whispered into the nun's ear what the acronym slang stood for... she turned beet red and gave up on that idea....