It took just 90 minutes for the 60-year-old Chancellor's Residence at 16 College Park to be razed on Monday, making way for a new facility that will serve both as a private residence and as a public venue for hosting fund raising, recruiting and recognition events.
The old residence had been vacant since February 1994 because of serious structural and mechanical problems.
Demolition and reconstruction costs, projected to be about $1.2 million, will be covered with private funds raised by the campus, supplemented by non-state funds from the Office of the President.
Construction, to begin Aug. 1, is expected to be completed within 12 to 14 months.
The day before the tractor rolled, project manager Jim Wilson came to the rescue of two hummingbird hatchlings nesting in a trellised walkway. He contacted Alida Morzenti of Avian Science, who rushed the nest to a Santa Rosa woman expert in hand-feeding baby birds.
The babies are eating, Morzenti said, and should grow strong enough to be released.
(Neil Michel/Axiom photo)
