UCF to spend $38M on new building, rehab of Colbourn Hall

The University of Central Florida is spending $38 million to put a new building on its central campus, and to rehabilitate an adjacent one that is among its most aged.

The new Trevor Colbourn Hall will occupy 79,000 square feet, with construction to start next fall and bidding on the project to begin July 2016.

Once complete in March 2018, Trevor Colbourn Hall, for which construction will cost $23 million, will house departments like English, history, modern language and women's studies. These departments are now located in the building to be rehabilitated, Colbourn Hall.

The rest of UCF's building budget, $15 million, will go toward the adjacent 84,000-square-foot Colbourn Hall which, at 40 years old, is one of the oldest buildings on campus. The building is located near the John C. Hitt Library.

Colbourn Hall "is scheduled for a top-to-bottom renovation," UCF spokesman Mark Schlueb said. "It will essentially be gutted and rebuilt."

The rehab will include replacing all mechanical, plumbing and electrical systems, as well as extensive exterior work and connecting it to the new Trevor Colbourn Hall.

Construction is expected to begin in May 2018, with the project put out for bid in May 2017.

Construction is expected to be complete in July 2019, with the rehabbed building used by additional faculty that UCF has been hiring in recent years.

The projects' general contractor is Clancy & Theys, while the architect for both buildings is SchenkelShultz Architecture.