The New Dining Hall and Tennis Facility

[friarwolf]

Had lunch there this week. Pretty awesome facility - as are the new dorms. Too much concrete for my tastes but at least you won't have the issue of keeping the grass alive........

If you live in Dallas, you ought to swing by there and have lunch as well as checking out the new digs.........

By the way, the new tennis facility is taking shape and it looks awesome. Already bricking the facades. It totally changes the entrance to campus off of Mockingbird..............

[gostangs]

When they re-face the retail and take down the dang drive through, it will feel like you are entering SMU instead of HP. Very cool. We need some big ol honking monument SMU signs on both sides of Mockingbird.

the new residents halls are fantastic. Very Hogwarts. I felt smarter just walking around in there.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

By the way, the new tennis facility is taking shape and it looks awesome. Already bricking the facades. It totally changes the entrance to campus off of Mockingbird..............

It really does look impressive. Mockingbird is going to look awesome once everything is completed.

[NewAgeMustange]

Are there any plans on building a nice crosswalk across Mockingbird to the new facility or to redo the intersection of mockingbird and airline? I feel like they should have something to improve the ability to cross the road. Something that gives decent walking time, not like the majority of crosswalk signs in Dallas that give you "two" seconds to cross.

[Bergermeister]

Are there any plans on building a nice crosswalk across Mockingbird to the new facility or yto redo the intersection of mockingbird and airline?

Yes. Fixin' to tear down the duplex on the corner and redo the Ford Stadium corner to become more fan/pedestrian friendly.

[gostangs]

i think the duplex is already gone.

[StallionsModelT]

The brick house to the west of the tennis complex is currently boarded up. I'm not sure if that is the duplex you guys are talking about.

Drove by campus on my way back from Love Field this afternoon and the tennis facility is really coming along. Most of the brick work is done and you can start to get a feel for the kind of place its going to be. Hard to imagine there will be a finer facility of its kind in the country. Once the landscaping is completed along with the newly added pedestrian-friendly intersection at Mockingbird/Bush Avenue the frustrations that many of us have had about getting around SMU on game days will be alleviated.

I'll be glad in a few years when this massive wave of construction is finally completed. We've still got several projects in the track (including the IPF) but you can start to see the finished product taking shape.

[CoxMustangFan]

Smt, will there not be another wave? Obvious nothing like the last two years, but I thought they had a number of projects in queue.

[fifty]

Smt, do you have good info that there will be an IPF? I hear it will not happen. My hunch is Baylor will be Division IV before we have that IPF we've been hearing about since ~2011.

[StallionsModelT]

The IPF is going to break ground either late this year or early next year. At the very latest I've been told the ground will break on the IPF in summer of 2015.

[lwjr]

The IPF is going to break ground either late this year or early next year. At the very latest I've been told the ground will break on the IPF in summer of 2015.

Is it still planned to be built on the Wedtcott field site? If so, does that mean SMU has secured a new site for the track and soccer field?

[StallionsModelT]

Yes. Soccer is moving to Pettus.

[lwjr]

Thanks

[StallionsModelT]

No problem.

As to the long-range construction projects I can only speak to the ones I'm aware of which include:

Gerald Ford Research Center
Relocation of frat houses on SMU Blvd
2nd building for Simmons School of Education
IPF
Natatorium east of 75
Redesign of retail strip at Mockingbird/75

To a certain extent construction on any college campus is a never-ending process. But for SMU in particular the last decade has been overwhelming. I can remember a few years back when there was construction going on with the Bush Library and the new dorms when we had something like 4 or 5 construction cranes on campus. That entire section of campus (which looks spectacular now BTW) was just a mess. I don't think you will see SMU have this level of construction in the next 20 plus years.

The strategic plan put forth back in the late 90's was to add to the campus footprint with more physical property and expansion of real estate. We are about 90% through with that at this point. SMU will always have its eyes open to expansion, but in all honesty unless we are going to be getting a pennies on the dollar type of deal for land east of 75 I can't see us grabbing up more land over there. We already own quite a bit.

[Bergermeister]

Yes. Soccer is moving to Pettus.

That is discouraging.