PROVIDENCE – A couple of infrastructure projects are soon to take place at Johnson & Wales University to help with both academia and campus operations.
Jason Witham, the university’s vice president of facilities management, told Providence Business News on Thursday that Johnson Hall on JWU’s Downcity campus will have its second and third floors renovated to accommodate a new nursing program. Additionally, on the Harborside campus in nearby Cranston, Witham is looking to build a new solar carport with solar panels installed on its roof to help provide uninterrupted power to the campus.
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Witham said the Harborside campus usually loses power two to three times a year, which is problematic since most of JWU’s culinary programs are located there.
“When we lose power, our refrigeration goes down,” Witham said. “At any given time, we could have a lot of food that is in our refrigeration.”
The Johnson Hall renovations will cost about $500,000, Witham said, and it will be funded by the university through its capital plan. That project will begin in the spring and be done by summer. The solar project, he said, will start in about a year and be a zero-cost capital project that will be financed by the hired developer for the project, Green Development LLC.
Both the Johnson Hall renovations and the solar port are the immediate projects included in the university’s long-term five-year master plan to help build on and expand the two campuses. The plan, which was unveiled last month to the campus community, highlights a future vision for JWU’s campuses that includes new building projects and additional greenspace.
JWU currently has a public comment period about the plan open through Nov. 14, and comments can be emailed to ProvidenceFacilitiesManagement@jwu.edu. Witham said the plan will be presented to the Providence City Planning Commission on Nov. 15.
According to the plan, there are proposed new academic and residence hall buildings slated for the Downcity campus. At Harborside, there is a proposed new ice arena and an addition to the basketball facility.
However, Witham said at this point, those projects are “not really well defined” and are “placeholders” as part of a roadmap that JWU officials see the university going.
“It’s all going to be dependent on market conditions, the economy,” he said. “It’s hard to formulate what those projects will be at this point.”
Witham also said JWU is adding additional trees to the two campuses in the near term, but also said the university has to strike a balance by including greenspace, as well. He said he hopes that the Harborside campus’ current parking lot can be turned into greenspace once the solar carport is built.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
