The construction of a new parking garage is underway on Shenandoah University’s campus. The 300-space garage is expected to be completed by May 1, 2018.
It will be located about 100 yards from the university’s football stadium and about 200 yards from the north entrance of the new James R. Wilkins Jr. Athletics and Events Center.
The garage will be located on a former athletics practice field known as The Rock and will provide much-needed parking. “It will really free up a lot of our spaces on campus,” said Robert Keasler, the university’s vice president for administration and finance.
On weekdays, the parking garage will be designated for first-year residential students. On the weekends, it will be available for those attending events at the stadium or events center.
The structure will have a brick facade with a large medallion on each corner bearing the school’s crest or the hornet mascot. These will be like the ones on the new events center, only smaller.
“This will be, as garages go, a very handsome one,” said Keasler, who added that university officials wanted to make sure the garage and the events center looked like they “belong together.”
The new three-story garage is being built by Howard Shockey and Sons, Inc. It will have 300 spaces, with an additional 100 surface spaces behind it. There will also be about 260 spaces at the nearby athletic center.
The $24.5 million, 77,000-square-foot James R. Wilkins Jr. Athletics and Events Center, located across from the university on the other side of Interstate 81, is slated to be open in the next several weeks, according to Keasler. Right now, last-minute touches, such as adding striping on the indoor track, are being completed. The athletic center will include 63,000 square feet of multipurpose field house space, with retractable seating for nearly 1,600. As a large events space, the facility will seat approximately 5,000 people theater-style or nearly 1,000 for a sit-down dinner.
Source: Article by Rebecca Payne, The Winchester Star. Photo of Jeff Davis of Shenandoah University at the site, by Ginger Perry.