Despite previous indications that the Shell gas station on Angell Street would be demolished to expedite construction on Sidney Frank Hall, the University has opted to allow the station to remain until its lease expires in the summer of 2006.
Brown had previously hoped that construction on Frank Hall could begin earlier than scheduled, but has since abandoned that goal, according to Richard Spies, executive vice president for planning and senior advisor to President Ruth Simmons.
"We thought we might be able to short-circuit the process, but it doesn't look like we'll be able to right now," Spies said.
Spies told The Herald in July that administrators were considering negotiations with the station's owners to terminate its lease prematurely. The University, which owns the property, ultimately decided the plan would be unnecessary and impractical, he said.
"To try to speed up things didn't make sense," Spies said. "Between doing it quickly versus doing it well, we choose doing it well."
The construction of Sidney Frank Hall will probably begin in the summer or fall of 2006, he said.
Spies also said the University is in the final stages of architect selection for the project, and much planning and design work is still needed for the building.
Frank Hall, named after the Jägermeister importer who donated $20 million of the estimated $30 million construction cost, will house the Department of Cognitive and Linguistic Science, the Brain Science Program, a 350-seat auditorium and classrooms. In Brown's Master Plan, Frank Hall is a centerpiece of "The Walk," a landscaped pathway connecting the Pembroke campus to Lincoln Field.
