July 28, 2017
Some East Texas Baptist University students will be moving into new digs in the coming weeks, thanks to the university's opening its newly built University Park row houses on Van Zandt Street.
"These are for our upperclassmen, sophomores and up, our graduate students and our married couples," ETBU President Blair Blackburn said Tuesday. "They are townhouse style apartments that are built in the East Coast colonial style attached row houses."
The $3.5 million construction project, which started last fall, is wrapping up this week with final touches being made to landscaping, furniture being moved in and cleaning being completed on the 20 new units. Eight of the new units are one-bedroom and one-bathroom homes, while the other 12 units are three-bedroom and three-bathroom.
"The houses are fully occupied - they are all leased. We will have 88 students who will begin moving into their new homes the first week of August," Blackburn said. "The first day of classes is Aug. 21."
The university will soon announce a date for an open house where the public will be invited to tour the new homes, he said.
The new row houses replace the university's former Van Zandt Apartments, which were torn down in order to construct the new homes.
"We are so thankful that God provided the funds for us to build this much needed housing to replace the Van Zandt Apartments, which were over 40 years old and in poor condition," Blackburn said. "The new University Park Row Houses, with their classical Georgian style of architecture, reflect the institution's renewed commitment to creating beautiful facilities, which enhance the living and learning environment for our students."
Blackburn said the university also used all local subcontractors and workers to complete the construction project.
"ETBU served as the construction manager for the project under the leadership of Chris Crawford," Blackburn said. "Ross Slone Construction of Marshall served as our general contractor."
Blackburn said the project required more than 100 laborers.
"We hired all local, meaning Marshall and Harrison County subcontractors, with I think one painter being from Jefferson and one other worker being from Longview," Blackburn said. "This project was a tremendous boost to local economy, with the people here in Marshall benefiting from the project by that money going right back into the local economy."
The university also is set to use Slone Construction as the general contractor for the construction of its Tiger Softball Clubhouse, he said.
The university launched its "Domus Victorium-Solus Christus... a Home for Champions - For Christ Alone" campaign, which raises funds towards the building of a 3,000 sq. ft. athletic clubhouse for the university's softball team. The new clubhouse will include a locker room for 32 student-athletes, coaches' offices, and a lounge for team study and fellowship. The university also recently upgraded Taylor Field with artificial turf and a new padded outfield wall.
"They were wonderful and all of the subcontractors worked really hard on our University Park Row Houses and they delivered the project on time," Blackburn said of Slone Construction. "They did a good job for us and now we've already started site development on the new softball club house for our national championship softball team."
Blackburn said the new clubhouse is set to be finished after the start of 2018.
"We plan to use local subcontractors for that project as well and we are still raising money for the Marshall Grand where we working on the architectural plans right now for what will be our School of Nursing there," he said. "We've raised about $1.5 million so far of the about $2.2 million needed for that project."
ETBU has owned the building since August 2013 when Marshall couples Jerry and Judy Cargill, and Richard and Christina Anderson donated the building to the university.
Blackburn said the university has additional plans for updates and construction on campus in the future but currently has spent the summer renovating and making updates on campus including laying down new flooring in university buildings, adding new paint throughout and installing updated lab equipment in its science labs.
For more information or to contribute to the fundraising campaign, visit here or contact ETBU's Vice President for Advancement Scott Bryant at 903.923.2178.