Due to record-breaking rainfall in St. Paul in recent weeks, construction on South Campus for a new Physical Plant and engineering building will not be finished by the beginning of the school year, as planned.

The $6.5 million project will be the new home for the Physical Plant and provide more lab space for engineering students. The project began at the end of March and was scheduled to be completed before the start of the 2014-2015 school year.

“The weather has hampered progress on that project. We’ve had 11-plus inches of rain this month, and the project is at the point where the rain does affect the scheduling,” Associate Vice President of Facilities Jim Brummer said. “Our contractor, Ryan Companies, is working hard to get the project back on schedule.”

The construction on South Campus created parking problems for students at the end of the school year, but has not had much impact on students taking classes this summer.

“The parking ramps are pretty free during the summer,” junior James Meathe said.

Though the construction is causing increased activity and noise, students taking classes in O’Shaughnessy Science Hall said they have not noticed the ruckus from inside the classroom.

“Other than parking my bike in the morning and hearing all of the loud noises and the people, it hasn’t been to much of a bother in class,” junior Jack Becker said.

According to Brummer, the South Campus renovation will house space for engineering on the third floor, as well as a garage dedicated to senior projects. The rest of the building will be central receiving, grounds and recycling operations, which have been located at different places around campus.

With about two months left of summer, the exterior of the building is not yet complete. Parking issues for students will not be resolved until the new building is finished.

“I think when school starts, most of the exterior will be done and we may be working on some of the interior stuff. I don’t see it … going deeper than September,” Brummer said. “Our hope was to have it done before the school year.”

Another notable project at St. Thomas is the near completion of the new provost office for Richard Plumb in Aquinas Hall. It began last summer but was put on hold after President Sullivan took office.

“It’s space that was available and open. It’s in close proximity to the president’s office, so there’s a good working relationship that’ll happen there on first floor. The project is pretty much done,” Brummer said.

Jordan Kruger can be reached at krug6172@stthomas.edu.