UF is now more than halfway done constructing the new Chemistry/Chemical Biology building.
General and organic chemistry classes will take place in the building next Fall, UF spokesman Steve Orlando wrote in an email. The building is about 65 percent complete and will cost about $66.7 million.
Construction started Oct. 10, 2014, on the corner of West University Avenue and Buckman Drive. Orlando said it’s expected to be completed in mid-July.
The building’s four floors will hold classrooms for undergraduate students in chemistry courses and graduate students studying chemical biology.
Orlando said the heating, ventilation and cooling system along with electrical work, fire protection and plumbing still need to be completed. The exterior of the building, including the roof, is about 25 percent complete, he said. The building, which covers about 110,000 square feet, will be the fourth chemistry building at UF.
The last chemistry building was built in the mid-1960s, he said.
“There was a distinct need for it,” Orlando said.
Sofia Mesa, a 19-year-old UF biochemistry freshman, said she has to travel to three different chemistry buildings in a day.
She said it’ll be nice to have classes and offices in the same area with the new building.
“They put us all over campus,” she said. “I think it’s a great way to give the students more opportunities to learn and to participate in other things.”
Contact Melissa Gomez at mgomez@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @MelissaGomez004.
The new Chemistry/Chemical Biology building, located on the corner of West University Avenue and Buckman Drive, in January. The building has been under construction for more than two years.
