With the Reitz Union construction set to continue until 2015, some UF students, faculty and visitors are considering the project an ear sore.
Eddie Daniels, the executive director of the Reitz Union, said the construction workers generally work from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., and noisy work is restricted to an 8 a.m. start time. Select after-hours work is scheduled as needed with the approval of the university.
As of last week, Daniels said he is “not aware of any complaints” from the faculty relating to the noise.
But Kim Walsh-Childers, a professor at the College of Journalism and Communications, said her class is disrupted by the noise every Tuesday and Thursday morning.
Walsh-Childers said when the old colonnade was torn down it was very loud, and she wishes it would have been demolished during summer.
Daniels said the only official complaints he has heard regard the inconveniences connected with the rerouted access into the Reitz Union.
With the rumble of construction, the Reitz Union Hotel staff is also worried about potential complaints.
Alexandra Webel, a front desk assistant at the hotel, said the noises from the renovations are starting to pick up.
“We’re concerned with how it’s going to go with the holidays coming,” Webel said.
The staff is also worried that guests will want to change rooms because of the noise, but the hotel does not have any extra space to accommodate them, she said.
Students who have classes near the Reitz Union have also found the loud noises from the construction site to be disruptive.
Kelsey Wonderlin, a 20-year-old UF journalism junior, hears the construction during her class in McCarty Hall.
“The construction going on at the Reitz makes it hard to pay attention in class,” Wonderlin said. “I find myself always getting distracted by the noises.”
The $75 million project is expecting to be completed by Fall 2015.
The next two years are “going to be noisy,” Walsh-Childers said. “There’s not really any way to make it quiet.”
A version of this story ran on page 4 on 11/4/2013 under the headline "Reitz construction noise disrupts Gators"
