Construction setbacks stall classes at chemistry building

After more than two years of construction, UF’s new chemistry building is still shuttered.

Despite initial plans to hold Spring classes in Joseph Hernandez Hall, located on the corner of West University Avenue and Buckman Drive, continued setbacks have forced the Department of Chemistry to delay opening until April, wrote UF spokeswoman Janine Sikes in an email.

This is not the building’s first setback. It was originally planned to hold classes in Summer, but had to be rescheduled because it wasn’t complete, according to Alligator archives.

The project began in October 2014 and was originally scheduled to be finished in May 2016, according to Alligator archives. Construction is seven months behind schedule, Sikes said.

The building’s budget — $51.5 million — has remained the same despite the delays, she said.

While the setback in Summer was due to labor shortages, the recent delay was caused by an error with incorrectly manufactured desks in the first floor lab rooms, said William Dolbier, the UF Department of Chemistry chair.

The building should be completed with the correct desks by February, he said.

“It would have been a lot more trouble if we had to re-register students and so, luckily, we found out about it before students registered in the Fall,” Dolbier said.

These rooms would’ve been used for general chemistry and organic chemistry labs. Instead, students were scheduled for labs in other buildings.

Dolbier said the department was cautious about scheduling classes in the building for Spring, so they limited enrollment based on the space available in other buildings.

Although Avia Muller, a UF health science sophomore, is looking forward to the new building, there was no space for her to sign up for an organic chemistry lab this semester.

“I was a little bit bummed, because I didn’t really want to be a lab behind,” the 19-year-old said.

Once the new classes are available, however, Dolbier said lab enrollment capacity will increase by about 50 percent.

“They’re going to be the best undergraduate chemistry laboratories in the state,” Dolbier said.

rellenbogen@alligator.org

@romyellenbogen

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.