Students tired of navigating crowded corridors and sitting in classrooms and lecture halls with every desk and seat filled will be glad to hear that Georgia State is planning on constructing a new classroom building.
However, students will have to wait the expected five years it takes for the new building to be approved by the University System of Georgia and constructed before they can attend class there.
Georgia State officially requested $65.5 million to construct the building as a part of the Capital Projects Funding Request for fiscal years 2021-24, according to Jazmin Mejia, Student Government Association university-wide president. However, USG and the Board of Regents have yet to approve or deny the request or to allocate funds for the construction.
Because this project is in the earliest stages and funding has yet to be approved, no official plans or renderings for the size or appearance of the building have been made public. A contractor or name for the building have also not been selected at this time.
If approved, the new building will be constructed on the property that is currently V Lot, behind the College of Law.
According to Mejia the new class building “will be started and completed within the next three to five years.”
Mejia also noted in an interview with Panther Report News that V Lot parking will be “relocated to another area on the Downtown campus.”
Students looking for a quick fix for campus and class overcrowding will have a wait ahead of them for relief.
In the last few years, the Atlanta campus has grown in size significantly. Undergraduate enrollment at the Atlanta campus increased 50% in the period between 2000 and 2014, according to The Washington Post.
According to Georgia State’s data reporting system IPORT, there are 35,187 students currently registered to attend class at the Atlanta campus and 18,733 registered for the Perimeter campuses. This year’s incoming class assisted in breaking the Georgia State record for most students enrolled at just over 53,000.
Many on-campus walkways have been restricted or demolished due to the construction associated with the greenway project currently taking place on campus. The greenway project began this summer with the destruction of Kell Hall and is currently in the process of demolishing library plaza as well.
