It’s understandable that after 150 years, maintenance plays an important role in keeping Doane’s residential Crete campus beautiful as well as safe and structurally sound. On the inside and outside, there’s the wear-and-tear from not only Nebraska’s mercurial seasons but thousands of undergraduate students. Along with maintenance, you have to consider when infrastructure needs repairs, renovations and — take the Quads as an example — replacing, to accommodate student needs, increase accessibility and ensure the longevity of the campus as a whole.
The same considerations are made for Doane’s campus locations in Lincoln and Omaha. The Fred D. Brown Center in Lincoln has been in use for 40 years.
Recent and Upcoming Maintenance and Construction Projects:
- Repairs and maintenance to Crete campus bridges
- Updating the turf at Al Papik Field in summer 2023
- Replacing the lights and adding new fencing around Memorial Stadium
- Installing new bleacher seats on the home side of the stands in Memorial Stadium, renovating the press box interior, adding new fencing and lights around the field
- Repairs to concrete walkways around the Crete campus
- Repairing the concrete ramp and stairs on the north entrance of Perry Campus Center
- Interior updates in Perry Campus Center
- Replacing lights in Butler Gymnasium
- Remodeling Butler Gymnasium to include a women’s locker room for Women’s Wrestling
- Exterior and interior updates to the Fred D. Brown Center (Lincoln location)
The Quads — Colonial and Georgian (later renamed to Burrage) Halls — were built in 1965 and 1966, respectively. The buildings have housed thousands of students during their half-century lifespan, creating friendships and memories that will long outlast them. But the way the halls were constructed was steadily requiring more, and costlier, maintenance, and wasn’t conducive to renovations.
“The Quads were built using block construction, so it would have been extremely difficult to renovate them and provide the types of community space that students want,” said Brian Flesner, director of facilities operations and construction projects at Doane.
The new residence hall will still feature suite-style living for up to 128 students in groups of four, six or eight, but will have additional lounge and study space both inside and outside on two separate patios. Suite entrances also won’t face directly outside, ensuring more security and a much safer way to get downstairs during winter weather.
The hall will also be much more accessible, with ground-level entrances and an elevator. Additional rooms can be added in the future in storage space purposefully left unfinished in the lower level of the hall.
Construction of the hall is estimated to be complete by December 2023. That isn’t the only adjustment to this part of campus, though. A parking lot that previously sat in front (south) of the Quads will now be closer to 13th Street, situated on the north side of what will be the new residence hall. The ravine leading to Miller Pond will also be leveled to create multi-use greenspace in between the new residence hall and the Chab Weyers Education and Hixson-Lied Art Building. That space will include a small outdoor amphitheater. A new basketball court will provide an additional option for outdoor activities.
