A string of building demolitions across campus began during [last?] winter break with the demolition of a [which one?] residence hall.

Westgate Hall, located west of the Thielen Student Health Center, is in the process of being demolished as the Department of Residence begins its plans to eliminate four residence halls from Iowa State’s campus. Westgate Hall was [tenses don’t align—was it fully demolished or is in in process?] the first to go. Storms Hall, Helser Hall and Knapp Hall are set to follow.

The removal of Westgate Hall is approximately 60 percent complete, said Mark Huss, project manager for the demolition and engineer for facilities planning and management [company name?]. Construction workers used heavy machinery to tear down the building piece by piece, he said.

Once the materials were torn down, they were separated into piles that will either be discarded or recycled, Huss said.

“As much of the materials as possible are being recycled,” Huss said. “That’s something we pushed for.”

Both the precast and concrete panels on the outside of the building and its steel frame will be recycled.

Darryl Knight, associate director of facilities for the Department of Residence, said the land Westgate Hall once occupied will be made into a parking lot.

While a decision has been made on what will become of the Westgate land, plans for the land and destruction of the other three dorms — Helser, Knapp and Storms — have not all been confirmed.

Knight said the demolition of Helser has been scheduled for [2008—2018?]. The land will be leveled off and made into a green space, with no new building constructed on the site, he said. He said he would like to see the land from Knapp and Storms used to construct a new food storage facility for ISU Dining.

Huss said he will also be the project manager for the demolition of the Towers buildings and was exploring options for their removal. He said he was considering the option of implosion, although he has never used that form of demolition. Huss said the destruction of Storms and Knapp will be the largest demolition the university has taken on.

Knight said the cost of the demolitions of these two buildings is still being researched, but he expected it to be in the vicinity of $1 million for each building.

Because the commons and loading dock between the Towers will not be demolished, it would be logical to add on to them to be used as a food storage facility, he said. The creation of a new food storage facility would free the space currently used for food storage in Friley Hall for a better purpose, Knight said. However, all decisions made for the land must be approved through the university, not the Department of Residence, he said.

“Any time we take a structure down … the land actually belongs to the university,” he said. “Right now, there’s nothing that’s been approved.”