College projects lifeline for construction cos.

HIGHER GROUND: The new Ruane Center for the Humanities, which was scheduled to be completed July 17, is set to become PC’s signature academic building. / COURTESY S/L/A/M COLLABORATIVE/DONGIK LEE
HIGHER GROUND: The new Ruane Center for the Humanities, which was scheduled to be completed July 17, is set to become PC’s signature academic building. / COURTESY S/L/A/M COLLABORATIVE/DONGIK LEE

(Corrected, 4:20 p.m.)
Nearly five years after the U.S. economy first spiraled into recession, the local construction industry, like much of Rhode Island’s labor force, is still struggling to get to its feet.
But there are a few bright spots for local trades, and as higher education continues to be one of the greatest drivers of growth, a symbiotic relationship has gained particular significance: Colleges and universities expand their footprint while investing in projects that offer much-needed employment opportunities to local workers.
Since 2010, this has been particularly true at Providence College, which is in the midst of a concerted building and renovation campaign to improve the school’s facilities. Approved in 2011, an overarching strategic plan has guided $92.3 million in capital-improvement projects, many of which dovetail with curricular and other academic aims.
“When outside rating agencies looked at Providence College in the past, one of our weaknesses was that our physical plant was older than our competitors, so it was a competitive disadvantage,” said John Sweeney, senior vice president and chief financial officer. The changes, he added, will ensure that facilities “reflect the quality of our programs.”
The effort began during the summers of 2010 and 2011 with a renovation of Harkins Hall, PC’s inaugural building – and one in such bad shape that the school considered demolishing it before deciding to undertake extensive renovations.
Its most recent finished project is the new Ruane Center for the Humanities, which was scheduled to be completed July 17. The 63,000-square-foot center is set to become PC’s signature academic building, hosting its Department of Western Civilization. Under a new core curriculum, the school is requiring all students to take Western civilization five days a week for two years.
“We’re moving away from large lecture classes into smaller sections, more interactive sections,” Sweeney said. “We needed spaces to accommodate that.”
The college’s other construction projects, which it has undertaken largely during summers and on the periphery of campus to minimize disruption to students, include:
• An eight-year campaign, approximately one-third completed, to renovate residential dorms.
• An expansion and renovation of Schneider Arena, home to the ice hockey rink, set to be finished Sept. 15. • A 2012 renovation of Alumni Hall, the athletic center and gymnasium where women’s basketball and volleyball teams play, including the addition of air conditioning.
• Completed improvements to Aquinas Hall and the removal of St. Joe’s Tunnel.
• Interior renovations in 2011 to the Slavin Center, the student union.
• A new track and field at Hendricken Field, scheduled to finish by Sept. 1.
• An extension of the Slavin Lawn, slated for completion in August.
• A home for the recently accredited new business school, for which a design competition is underway.
• A new field for soccer and lacrosse that will also entail moving softball fields and tennis courts.
• Modernizing updates to curricular science laboratories.
• The integration of a section of Huxley Avenue running through campus that the school recently acquired in an agreement with the city.
The campaign, the bulk of which Sweeney said will likely last two to three more years, is being financed in three main ways: philanthropy, issuance of tax-exempt bonds through the R.I. Health and Educational Building Corporation and reallocation of campus resources in the college’s operating budget. The school has nonetheless managed to keep tuition increases low and expand its financial aid budget.
And Sweeney said the facilities upgrades are already drawing students: PC’s yield for the incoming freshman class was unexpectedly high this year, with 1,030 to 1,040 slated to join a class that was expected to have about 980 students.
Though the projects are providing PC with a facelift, they are more like a lifeline to many of the construction workers who have made the renovations reality.
“A lot of people fed their families the past couple years because of some of the work PC [has] done,” said Michael V. St. Martin, president of Johnston-based Aero Mechanical Inc., which has worked on the Harkins Hall, Ruane Center and Schneider Arena projects.
Though prices have been depressed for all kinds of construction projects, the simple fact that PC is building has helped business, St. Martin said. Like other company leaders in the trades, he said nearly all work now comes from the education and health care sectors, with other private-industry growth in Rhode Island next to nonexistent. His employees have also worked on projects at Brown University, Johnson & Wales University and Bryant University. Aero currently employs about 100 workers – down roughly 25 percent from pre-recession levels, though not as bad as some points in the last few years when Aero has been down 60 or 70 percent, St. Martin said.
Vincent Rossi, president of Cranston-based Rossi Electric Co. Inc., said there continues to be a dearth of major projects to work on – a particularly bad sign because summer is usually the season of highest demand. “The college has been keeping us busy during these terrible times,” he said. “Most of the colleges always have work for us.”
David Piscopiello, president of Joseph Tavone Painting Co. Inc., in North Providence, echoed the gratitude for universities’ renovations. “Because the economy’s been terrible, without the colleges doing these renovations and building the buildings we would really be in dire need,” he said.
Tavone’s relationship with PC, which stretches back about 35 years, has been crucial in supplying work for its painters. “The work that they had given us,” Piscopiello said, “there’s no words for it. You know, they keep people working.”
For Cranston’s E. Turgeon Construction Corp., a history of working with PC that goes back decades is essential for their continuing partnership, especially as work in the manufacturing sector and for the Catholic diocese has dried up in the past few years. “Trust … gives us a lot of repeat business,” said Vice President Bradley K. Draycott.
In particular, the Harkins Hall renovation involved a challenging schedule and even overtime hours for some workers, he said.
Peter Murgia, project executive of the fire-detection division at Providence’s Arden Engineering Constructors LLC, said PC projects have been “incredibly” important for his company, which handles the school’s fire-protection systems.
With the Rhode Island economy still sluggish, industry leaders said they don’t expect their reliance on education and health care to change any time soon.
But for Murgia, working at PC will continue to be a top priority, given the strong ties that college leaders have fostered with contractors. “It’s become a family over there,” Murgia said. “The loyalty has gone both ways.” •
The bond-issuing agency for Providence College’s construction projects, the R.I. Health and Educational Building Corporation, was incorrectly identified in the initial version of this story.

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  1. The article incorrectly identified the issuer of the tax exempt bonds. The tax exempt bonds were issued by the Rhode Island Health and Educational Building Corporation (RIHEBC)