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Research and Technology Park Construction Project Gets Underway on UVI St. Croix Campus To the University Community: As you may know, the commencement of construction of RTPark’s $13 million building project was recently authorized by the RTPark Board of Directors. The 2-storey, roughly 18,000 square foot building will be sited on a 10-acre parcel on the St. Croix campus, near the main entrance just off of the Queen Mary highway, which RTPark leases from the University. We are in the process of updating RTPark’s web site, at www.uvirtpark.com, to provide ongoing details on the sustainable-design, LEED-certified “green” building in the coming weeks. In addition, e-mail updates will be provided from time-to-time, such as this one. RTPark’s tenants can be, and are, located throughout the Virgin Islands, so the building is not intended to be devoted solely to RTPark and its tenants. In fact, it is the creation of a collaborative environment among UVI, RTPark and our tenants, as part of RTPark’s knowledge-based economic development mandate, that serves as the basis for the building’s programming. As you may already know, UVI itself will be a major occupant and is providing a portion of the capital funding for the project, and we are excited about the opportunities the building will foster for the ultimate benefit of the knowledge-based workforce of the US Virgin Islands. For now, I would like to focus on introducing Ms. Denise Kurg and Mr. Jeremy Tyson, the key RTPark personnel responsible for shepherding the project to completion. Denise Kurg is RTPark’s Director of Facilities and Operations, and can be reached at extension 1118 or via e-mail at dkurg@uvirtpark.com. You may know Denise from her many years of service in administrative roles with the University, and her involvement in the planning processes that culminated in RTPark being chartered by the Legislature as an autonomous instrumentality in 2002. Denise has played a key role in every stage of the building project, including the various solicitations of bids and resulting selections of ARAMARK as the project management firm, Scott Natvig/Architectural Alliance for architectural and engineering services, and most recently Aireko for project construction. With the support of RTPark’s Real Estate Administration Committee chaired by Mr. Roger Dewey, Denise has overseen the project’s schematic design, design development and construction documentation phases. She was also principally responsible for securing the $5.5 million grant from the US Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration that comprises the largest portion of the project’s funding, and has been of great assistance in providing updates as part of the approval processes of the RTPark Board as well as the UVI Board of Trustees. Jeremy Tyson is the Project Manager for the building project and serves as ARAMARK’s representative for RTPark. Jeremy can be reached at extension 4242 or via e-mail at tyson-jeremy@aramark.com. ARAMARK is no stranger to UVI having been involved in UVI’s capital projects for many years; you may already know Mr. Gerry Buggy as ARAMARK’s UVI representative. Although Jeremy Tyson has just recently relocated to St. Croix he has quickly immersed himself in project oversight, meeting with contractors, his ARAMARK colleague Gerry Buggy as well as Mr. Scott Hartman (Gerry and Jeremy’s immediate supervisor), UVI liaison personnel on the St. Croix campus, and permitting authorities. This exciting project, which should be completed in eighteen months (or less if possible), is now underway and will soon be in full swing. We can expect activity at the site to be consistent with other construction projects, and we will look for ways to minimize adverse impact – visual or otherwise – wherever possible. Nevertheless, we can expect certain issues to arise from time to time, and in fact, some already have. For example, the recent threat of Tropical Storm Maria temporarily set back the delivery and placement of certain materials and supplies at the job site. However, a shipping container and construction trailer did make it to campus ahead of the other materials. The “visual impact” of the container and trailer, standing alone in the field, led to questions from the UVI community. I would like to take an added minute of your time to update you on that concern. The arrival of the container and trailer, albeit ahead of other project materials, was nevertheless instrumental in meeting certain timetable requirements related to the project’s grant funding. The container and trailer are part of a more comprehensive site logistics plan that will frame construction activity at the site. Coming next: 6-foot cyclone fencing with green mesh netting perpendicular to Queen Mary and around the construction trailers, followed by 6-foot wood fencing with green mesh netting to the property line of the construction site. Presuming timely delivery of materials, these should arrive toward the end of this present week continuing into the following week. As the job site continues to takes shape, your understanding and forbearance is appreciated. On behalf of Denise and Jeremy, I thank you for your interest and support. We will be working hard to keep the University community informed of project developments. Your suggestions and concerns, of course, are always welcomed, and I encourage you to contact Denise or Jeremy directly should a need arise. Warmly, David Zumwalt Executive Director UVI Research and Technology Park Corporation Research and Technology Park Protected Cell Corporation