Groundbreaking for the $4.5 million Bailey Hall plaza project is scheduled for Monday, March 19, weather permitting. Completion is expected by Aug. 17.

Fencing will enclose the existing parking island in the Bailey forecourt, and pedestrian traffic will be rerouted around the project. Approximately 50 parking spaces in the forecourt area are being removed permanently. During construction there will be two-way vehicular traffic in front of Bailey and also at the west side of the project to allow access to the Malott loading dock parking area. Buildings north of the site will not be affected.

During the initial phase of the project, fencing will be installed at the sidewalk in front of Malott Hall, but the north entrances will remain accessible.

Construction of the Italianate plaza, designed by offices of Michael Van Valkenburgh, a 1973 graduate of Cornell's Department of Landscape Architecture, is sponsored by the Office of the Provost. The actual construction will be carried out by Lechase Construction Inc.

Once the site is prepared, the plaza will be landscaped with ornamental evergreens, Kentucky coffee trees, red-twigged dogwoods and a large rock outcrop thrusting upward at an angle complete with gently seeping waters that mimic the nearby gorges. Natural cleft and thermal finish bluestone, a more resilient type of Llenroc, the locally quarried shale-dense stone, will line the pedestrian pathways, and wooden benches hewn from large timbers will offer ample space for taking in the scenery.

For more information and updates on the project see http://www.pdc.cornell.edu/pdc/eng/civil/weekly_updates.cfm.