NU starts Kellogg construction today

Northwestern University begins construction in Evanston today on the new “global hub” for the Kellogg School of Management.

With the new building going up on what formerly was an open parking lot, the university will also open its new north campus parking structure today.

University officials say the new Kellogg building, which will also serve as the home of the department of economics in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, will accommodate the latest technology and foster new forms of learning.

The surface parking lot to be replaced by the Kellogg “global hub.” (Google Earth image.)

The construction is part of the planned development of the north campus area, which also will include new and improved facilities for athletics and recreation, a new home for School of Communication clinics and space for use by startup ventures.

Only part of the new garage, with about 500 parking spaces is expected to open today.

“We wanted to ensure that there would be no net loss in parking, even temporarily, when construction begins on Kellogg,” said Ron Nayler, associate vice president for facilities management. “With the garage opening for parking, we can move forward on the Kellogg Global Hub.”

Cars will enter the new garage on the north side. Drivers should come to campus on Lincoln Street and follow it east to Campus Drive, just as they do now. Campus Drive goes south, and the entrance to the garage will be straight ahead at the point where Campus Drive curves west to go around the garage. 

For the rest of this academic year, parking in the garage will be handled on the same basis as it has been in the surface parking lots: A Northwestern faculty/staff permit or a visitor permit, which can be purchased at a kiosk north of the Frances Searle building, will be required to be displayed on all vehicles in the garage.

Starting next fall, access will be controlled by gates and faculty/staff who have purchased parking permits will be able to use their Wildcards to access the garage.

Construction traffic for the Kellogg Global Hub will be via North Tech Drive, between the Technological Institute and Sargent Hall.

The trucks will then be routed around the north side of Frances Searle to the east side of the surface parking lot near the field hockey playing field. This will keep the construction traffic more than 100 feet away from Cook Hall in order to minimize any impact on the vibration-sensitive instruments in that building.

When complete, the north campus garage will have about 1,152 parking spaces and provide space for a new weight room and fitness studios, as well as office space and meeting rooms for fitness and recreation staff.

Additional space on the first floor and on the second floor of the new parking structure will be used by Northwestern’s audiology clinic and speech/language/learning clinic, which serve children and adults with hearing and speech health care needs.

The new space will provide improved and expanded space for clinical diagnosis and treatment, as well as faculty offices. Additional space on the first floor will be used by the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Space on the second floor, called “The Garage,” is planned to be used as an area for student-led entrepreneurial and innovation activities.