Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University will celebrate a milestone in its ongoing construction campaign — the completion of the final three buildings in the James Hagedorn Aviation Complex — with a grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony at 9 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 9, in the courtyard of the complex at the Daytona Beach campus.
The new, high-tech Emil Buehler Aviation Maintenance Science Building, Samuel M. Goldman Fleet Maintenance Hangar, and Flight Operations Building are grouped together on Embry-Riddle’s flight line, adjacent to Daytona Beach International Airport. The Buehler and Flight Operations buildings replace older structures; the Goldman building replaces a hangar destroyed by a tornado in 2006.
Managed by the University’s Construction and Planning Office in conjunction with Hawkins, Hall, and Ogle Architects and Perry McCall Construction, the $22.1 million project adds 97,550 square feet of instructional and operational space to the campus.
Counting the three new buildings, the James Hagedorn Aviation Complex now consists of seven buildings that support more than 2,000 students seeking degrees in Aeronautical Science, Air Traffic Management, Aviation Maintenance Science, Homeland Security, Meteorology, and Safety Science as well as certification in FAA Airframe and Powerplant, according to officials. Structures built earlier, in the first phase of the complex, include the College of Aviation Building and the Advanced Flight Simulation Center.
The Aviation Complex is named for Embry-Riddle alumnus Jim Hagedorn, who, along with his wife Karli, is a major donor to the complex. Hagedorn is the chairman, CEO, and president of Scotts Miracle-Gro Company. He serves on the University’s Board of Trustees as the chairman of the Investment Committee and a member of the Development Committee.
Other major donors to the Aviation Complex are the Emil Buehler Perpetual Trust and the Sam Goldman family. Helen Wessel, another friend of the university, commissioned two artworks for the complex — the stainless-steel sculpture Pathways to the Sky by artist Peter Forster for the courtyard, and the tall and airy fused-glass sculpture Reaching New Horizons by artist Kerry Transtrum for the atrium of the Flight Operations Building.
The three-story, 48,680-square-foot Emil Buehler Aviation Maintenance Science Building contains faculty offices along with classrooms and labs dedicated to the training of aircraft technicians. The Miller Electric Welding Lab is named in honor of Miller Electric Mfg. Co., which is supplying the lab with the latest welding, cutting, and fume-extraction equipment. The Buehler building also features observation decks on the second and third floors to be used for receptions and other special events, presenting a panoramic view of Embry-Riddle’s flight line and the runways, tower, and terminal of Daytona Beach International Airport.
The two-story, 33,850-square-foot Flight Operations Building holds offices, classrooms, a control tower, and an observation lounge, as well as areas to handle training flight reservations, pre-flight planning, post-flight debriefing, and flight and ground traffic control dispatch.
The 15,020-square-foot Samuel M. Goldman Fleet Maintenance Hangar contains offices and expansive space for technicians to service Embry-Riddle’s fleet of training aircraft.
Located outside the new buildings, a new aircraft ramp imprinted with the Embry-Riddle seal will be used to display jets, military aircraft, experimental aircraft, and other aircraft of note.
In other new construction, the Jim W. Henderson Administration and Welcome Center at the Daytona Beach campus is currently under construction and is slated for completion in early 2012. It will feature visitor services, a large hall for community and university events, administration offices, seminar/function rooms, and a meeting room for the Board of Trustees.
Other buildings at the Daytona Beach campus in various stages of planning and design are the College of Arts & Sciences building (2013 estimated completion), the Student Union (2015), the Athletics Services building (2015), and the Academic and Research Center (2016). Newer buildings at the Daytona Beach campus include the College of Business Building and the Apollo Residence Hall, both completed in 2008, and the Fitness Center, completed in 2007.
For more information: EmbryRiddle.edu
