By BRAD KEITH
TheFlashToday.com NEWS & SPORTS – FREE & LOCAL
STEPHENVILLE (April 6, 2015) — The fences have gone up, the first step to the beginning of construction under way.
Yet another new residence hall is being built at Tarleton State University, this one on top of what has for many years been the home parking lot to the football stadium that serves as home to the Texans and to the high school powerhouse Stephenville Yellow Jackets.
Traditions Residence Hall is opening in the Fall of 2016 after development by Balfour Beatty Campus Solutions, architecture by BOKA Powell and construction by Balfour Beatty Construction, which now has local offices in Stephenville due to the continued construction needs of the steadily-growing university.
Construction of the residence hall will take between a year and a year-and-a-half according to one Balfour Beatty Construction employee. One intramural softball field northwest of the stadium will become a parking lot to compensate for parking needs, which seem to always be a hot issue within the university community. The three remaining softball fields north of the stadium will be left alone.
Rumor of a residence hall being constructed on top of what is one of the university’s primary parking lots – not to mention parking for home football fans – has been swirling for months. In his monthly superintendent’s report in March, Stephenville ISD leader Matt Underwood informed school trustees of the construction plans, though he did not yet have a facilities agreement from Tarleton athletic administrators.
WHY don’t they build a parking building, 3 or 4 stories high, at a central location? Charge $5 extra, and kids get to class on time. Plus there is still room for softball fields.
Distance matters too. We don’t WANT to park where the softball fields are!