Amid the construction of Parking Structure III, located northwest of Hornet Stadium, Sacramento State is looking toward the construction of its new bookstore.

Originally, when the university’s “master plan” was created in 2003 as a part of President Alexander Gonzalez’s Destination 2010, the new bookstore was supposed to be under construction now.

The construction has been delayed. In fact, Sac State will not “advertise the construction of the bookstore for bid until November,” said Matt Altier, executive director of University Enterprises Inc.

The university will evaluate each construction company based on the amount of experience the contractor has building projects similar to the bookstore. The company will also be determined by its projected price to build the bookstore, Altier said.

Once the construction company is selected in December, the actual construction would begin in February or March, 2006. “The bookstore should be finished by July, 2007,” Altier said.

There are two reasons for the construction delay. The first reason was after the bookstore’s design was finalized, the project was over budget, said Ron Richardson, director of facility planning and development.

After Sac State went back over the designs, the construction went back into budget, which is currently looking between $19 million and $19.5 million, Richardson said.

The second reason for the delay was the partnership between University Enterprises Inc. and Follett Corp. for the ownership of the bookstore. The building’s sketches had to be re-examined because “Follett had different design ideas,” Richardson said.

The new bookstore will be located where the faculty parking is currently located outside of the University Union. The front of the bookstore will face the Serna Plaza fountain and a new plaza will be built in front of the bookstore.

“The location of the new bookstore will probably make pedestrian circulation better,” Richardson said. “People will have a better transition from the parking lot to the bookstore to the Union.”

Richardson said that the Redwood trees that separate Parking Structure II from Parking Lot 4 will not be cut down.

A major concern of the new bookstore’s location is the displacements of the faculty parking spaces. The construction of the bookstore will eliminate 245 parking spaces, said Nancy Fox, manager of University Transportation and Parking Services.

“We are trying to balance the number of faculty and student parking that will be eliminated during the construction of the bookstore,” Fox said. “Since 14 student parking spaces and 231 faculty spaces will be lost, we will have to accommodate faculty parking elsewhere on campus.”

UTAPS tries to maintain a balance of 20 percent faculty parking and 80 percent student parking. This balance is important to keep, especially with the loss of 806 spaces to make room for Parking Structure III, Fox said.

Students who use the Hornet shuttle at the Serna Plaza drop-off point will not have to walk across campus to get a ride. Buses and shuttles will move a little to the north, but will remain in roughly the same area.

“Serna Plaza is central to the campus,” Fox said. “We want the drop-off point to still be close to the plaza and the Union.”

The current bookstore, located next to Mendocino Hall and the River City Cafe, will be converted to a food court.

Jamie Gonzales can be reached at [email protected]