Rise in Construction Costs Forces a Georgia College to Scale Back Expansion

After planning for several years to spend $8-million expanding its student-activities center, Gainesville State College has discovered that the money will now buy only two-thirds as much new space as administrators had hoped for.

The college, located in Oakwood, Ga., has had to trim the expansion by nearly 12,000 square feet to accommodate the increase in construction costs since planning for the project began, according to the Gainesville Times.

The revised plan no longer has room for the college’s testing center or its Disability Services Office. But the plan still offers students more space for meetings, hanging out in lounges and a cybercafe, and playing games in the game room. The plan also calls for renovating the existing student center once the new space has opened.