Elder David A. Bednar, former president of BYU-I, will be on campus Oct. 31 to preside at the groundbreaking ceremony for two new construction projects: a new auditorium to the south of the John W. Hart Building, and an expansion and renovation of the Hyrum Manwaring Center.

“The new auditorium and Manwaring Center expansion represent the culmination of plans outlined during the transition from Ricks College to BYU-Idaho,” according to a BYU-I press release.

In other words, the two projects come at the end of a long series of construction projects that were designed to help the school meet the needs of a growing student population and a new mission as a four-year university. Other projects that have been completed in recent years include new buildings for academics and for administration, a Student Health Center, expansion and renovation of existing buildings, housing for married students and new playing fields.

“In terms of transition,” said James R. Smyth, University Resources vice president of BYU-I, “[these two projects] are a completion; but it’s not a completion of BYU-Idaho.”

Smyth said that change will still be a part of the school, but that these two buildings will provide for needs that have long been felt.

Campus maps from as early as 1995 show plans for an expansion of the Hart, which currently houses exercise, recreation and athletic facilities. The planned expansion would have extended out from the south end of the Hart, taking the place of the fields that were located there.

Since that time, the plans have developed and changed to where BYU-I now plans to build a new building separate from the Hart, but occupying the same space as the planned expansion.

The new building, referred to by the administration for now simply as the auditorium, will feature a new, larger auditorium for devotionals and other large campus events. According to the press release, the auditorium will seat at least 12,000, but Smyth said the estimate has grown to 15,000 seats, three times the current capacity of the Hart Auditorium.

“The building will also include a number of multi-use areas that will serve the needs of the Activities Program for sports, recreational and social activities,” according to the press release. The new areas will be equivalent in size to ten basketball courts, Smyth said.

The MC expansion project will create as much as 100,000 square feet of additional space for the building, to be used for the Bookstore, Food Services, and meeting space for students.

“The addition to the Manwaring Center will involve a large seating area ordinarily set up with chairs and tables to meet two primary needs,” Smyth said, “but could meet other needs.”

The two primary needs that the area will meet are more space at meal times for Food Services and supplemental space for David O. McKay Library patrons. The expansion project will include an enclosed walkway between the McKay Library and the MC.

Construction will progress built following a process called the design-build method. Design and construction will occur in successive stages, with some of the design stages overlapping with the first construction stages.

The design-build method will allow BYU-I to finish the project more quickly, Smyth said.

Unlike most such ceremonies, Tuesday’s ceremony will not feature an unveiling of the plans for the buildings, as the finished design of the buildings has not yet been determined.

“We know sufficient about the overall facilities to begin phase one, but we don’t know all the details,” Smyth said.

The school administration has set a target of late winter or early spring for construction to begin in earnest. The anticipated completion date of the projects is sometime within Fall Semester 2009.