The Shinn Center for Entertainment & the Arts is nearly finished with construction, while the parking garage promised at convocation last fall has yet to start breaking ground.
Originally slated for completion in the fall of 2018, the construction on the Shinn center was delayed for two months due to a necessary rerouting of storm drains underneath the foundation. Since fall of 2018, construction of the building has moved at a steady and consistent pace, despite some surprises popping up for faculty and staff in the design.
The building’s outside brick is now complete as well as roof and exterior design. Interior design seems to be progressing steadily as well.
The building will officially open late August or early September, provided no other incidences lead to delays, according to Kim Chaudoin, university spokesperson.
There is still some confusion among staff and faculty, however, about whether a large door is going to be placed where the radio station currently is.
Until the building is fully completed, those plans have not been discussed. Another surprise to the staff and faculty of the Ezell building was the inclusion of a connection between the Shinn center and Ezell in rooms 102 and 202 as an accessway for maintenance. The inclusion of these connecting doorways led to confusion with the faculty as to what needed to be done to the rooms that were formerly offices for adjunct Communications professors and the office of Ken Durham, a bible professor. Both rooms were ultimately cleared out while construction installed the doors.
The Shinn Center will formally house the College of Entertainment and the Arts as well as provide a venue to people looking to host events in Nashville. The building has a capacity of 1,000 people and will also feature a studio and a stage. The center is named after George Shinn, a former NBA owner who donated $15 million to Lipscomb University. His donation marked the largest in school history.
The parking garage, slated to be located behind the Fields Engineering center on the north side of campus, was announced last year at Convocation by President Randy Lowry. The project was initially announced as a garage with 200 spaces but was that was later changed in an announcement made in December of last year stating that the garage will feature 300 spots. The garage is planned to replace a gravel lot that currently only fits 20 cars. The parking garage is funded by a $22 million donation made by an anonymous benefactor.
“Part of the gift was for the College of Business, and part of that is also for the parking structure. So, we have the funding now, and we were able to move on some plans we have been wanting to move on for some time, and so we are really excited about that,” said Chaudoin.
Parking is a constant issue every year at Lipscomb, and school officials say they are excited to help alleviate parking stress when the parking garage is finished.
While groundbreaking for the project has not officially started, the gravel lot that the garage is to be built at has had some construction and smoothing done to it, with an entrance into it off of Grandview Drive. The current opening allows for a path between Lipscomb’s Campus and Grandview. Whether or not that will be important when construction starts is not yet clear.
This is an ongoing story and any developments will be updated.