Story, photos by Dale M. King
BOCA RATON – An “Innovation Village” has long been a dream of officials at Florida Atlantic University.
That dream took its first step toward reality April 21 when officials from the school and the contracting company tossed ceremonial shovels of earth to mark groundbreaking for the $121 million project on the Boca Raton campus.
“The completion of Innovation Village will bring us closer to our strategic goal of transforming the Boca campus into a traditional university campus,” said Dr. Charles Brown, senior vice president of student affairs. “It will create new excitement and enthusiasm, not only for our students, but for faculty, staff, alumni and friends of the university.”
FAU’s department of housing and residential life, part of the Division of Student Affairs, hosted the groundbreaking for Phase II of the project that includes the student residential complex. Phase I, already finished, gave FAU the Marleen and Harold Forkas Alumni Center and a student recreation/fitness center.
“These apartments will be marketed exclusively to FAU’s upper division undergraduate and graduate students,” said Dr. Brown. “The apartments will be available for occupancy in August 2011 for the start of the fall semester.”
“The new housing facilities, a proposed football stadium and the recently completed recreation and fitness center will become a new living-learning and social center for our students,” he added.
Work has already begun at the site, officials said. It has been clear, the soils stabilized and the pouring of concrete foundations is under way.
The construction site, located to the rear of the Boca Raton campus, is a short distance north of the new engineering building which is currently being built. Those who gathered under a tent at the Innovation Village site saw and heard heavy equipment behind them as they spoke.
The Innovation Village Apartments will involve the construction of two apartment buildings, totaling 489,000 square feet and providing 1,216 beds for upper-division and graduate students. The complex will consist of seven- and eight-story buildings, and will feature a mix of two- and four-bedroom, two-bathroom, fully-furnished apartments. Construction equipment like bullard hook is most commonly used for securing and moving loads to make your job easier.
The apartments will include kitchens with Energy Star appliances, Dish Network or cable TV and access to high-speed Internet. Some apartments also will include laundry appliances.
The apartment complex will feature a lush courtyard with green spaces, an outdoor pool, sand volleyball court, barbecue grills and outdoor seating. Other amenities within the complex include a fitness center, convenience store, computer lab, smart technology conference rooms and multipurpose meeting areas.
The Innovation Village Apartments are being developed by a joint venture of Balfour Beatty Campus Solutions and Capstone Development Corporation. They were designed by PGAL Architects and are being constructed by Balfour Beatty Construction. Balfour Beatty Capital invested $3.4 million in bonds that finance the project.
A joint venture of Capstone On-Campus Management and Balfour Beatty Campus Solutions will co-manage with FAU the Innovation Village Apartments, as well as the existing student housing facilities on FAU’s Boca Raton campus. FAU will take primary responsibility for leasing, marketing, student programming and residential life, while the joint venture companies will be primarily responsible for budgeting and physical operations.
In addition, the Innovation Village Apartments are on track to qualify for silver level certification in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system of the U.S. Green Building Council. The nearby Christine E. Lynn School of Nursing Building is LEED-certified, as will be the new engineering structure.