University News

Board gives final OK for 2 large projects that will alter Grounds’ landscape

The University of Virginia Board of Visitors gave final approval for the design of a new and modern academic building while agreeing to raze an old and outdated structure. The construction and demolition will eventually alter sites at opposite ends of the road running past the Corner.

School of Data Science Entrepreneurship Building

Architect for the University Alice Raucher received final approval for the design of the School of Data Science Entrepreneurship Building, a structure planned for a lot adjacent to the School of Data Science. A bridge will connect the two buildings at the second and third floors. The board had reviewed the building’s design in an earlier meeting.

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With this approval, the project’s next milestone will be a state architectural review in July. “And then, in under a year, we should break ground,” Raucher said.

At five stories, the approved building will be slightly taller than the neighboring Data Science building, but will look similar. The glass walls will give the Entrepreneurship Building’s ground floor a transparent feeling.

Transparent first floors, along with red brick on higher floors, are features of several buildings in the growing Emmet-Ivy Corridor. That’s intentional, Raucher said. She wants to give passersby a sense of the bustle inside, while also giving building occupants a clear view of the spaces around them. Ultimately, Raucher told UVA Today, the concept is based upon the activity of the Lawn, where students, staff and faculty move through their days in an open, airy living-and-learning community.

Illustration of Emmet-Ivy Corridor, will feature a transparent first floor to showcase the bustle inside.

The proposed building, like a few others in the Emmet-Ivy Corridor, will feature a transparent first floor to showcase the bustle inside. The faint line to the left represents a placeholder for a future building as the corridor expands. (Contributed illustration)

The building will serve both the Data Science School and the University’s growing entrepreneurship initiatives. When completed, the Entrepreneurship Building will include classrooms, offices, conference space and an “entrepreneurship hub.”

A $20 million commitment from the Charlottesville-based Quantitative Foundation is supporting the building’s construction. Founder and trustee of the foundation, Jaffray Woodriff, is a 1991 graduate of the McIntire School of Commerce. The foundation was one of the biggest supporters of the Honor the Future campaign, including its historic grant of $120 million in 2019 to establish the Data Science School.

Main Heating Plant

At the other end of U.S. 250 Business, which transitions from Ivy Road to University Avenue at Emmet Street, the board approved a final, three-phase plan to remove hulking concrete coal silos and other coal-related machinery at the Main Heating Plant.

The gray silos rise into view from the Corner and store coal as the University’s backup fuel supply. The plant runs on natural gas almost all the time, piped in from Charlottesville. But during severe cold snaps, the city curtails the University’s gas supply. Coal has been a consistent backup fuel.

A $38 million conversion project announced last year will replace or raze everything needed to store, move and burn coal. In its place, the University will construct a 110,000-gallon fuel oil storage tank, tucked out of view, as a backup.

Four large concrete coal silos rise from the Main Heating Plant, as seen from the Corner. The Board of Visitors approved a plan to raze or remove all the plant’s coal-handling structures and machinery over the next few summers, but the silos will be the last feature to come down. (Photo by Lathan Goumas, University Communications)

“The visual benefits of this project will be enormous,” Raucher said.

The conversion to heating oil will be phased over three summers, with the demolition of the silos in the final phase.

“The creative phasing of the project will allow the new, above-ground oil storage tank to be located behind the plant and out of sight,” Paul Zmick, UVA’s director of energy and utilities, said.

“I’ve been here almost eight years, and this project, this team, is amazing,” Jennifer “J.J.” Wagner Davis, UVA’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, told the board at the end of Raucher and Zmick’s presentation. “This is long overdue for the hospital and our overall sustainability plan. Plus it saves money, too.”

In other board news, the members approved a plan to demolish the old UVA police station on Ivy Road, saying it was beyond effective renovation. Last year, the UVA Police Division moved into its new headquarters at Zehmer Hall.

The site will be landscaped after the building’s demolition, Raucher said. There were no immediate plans for further use of the property.

Editor's note: This article originally indicated that the coal silos dated to 1952, based on statements made in the Board of Visitors meeting. Since then, several UVA Today readers provided archival photographs and other documentation showing the silos were constructed later, and perhaps much later. The article has been updated.