AACC began repairs for the West Campus quad in Arnold in March.

The renovations, which will finish by Aug. 15, include a complete replacement of the stairs of the amphitheater and repairs for the wall surrounding the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, according to Assistant Director of Facilities Planning and Construction Joyce Dawson. 

“I don’t think you’re going to notice that it looks significantly different,” Dawson said. “It’s just going to look refreshed.”

The amphitheater on the West Campus was last renovated in 2020, according to Dawson.

Two entrances to the second floor of the Cade building are closed during construction. 

But once the work on the stairs is complete in late June, the construction’s impact on students will be minimal, Dawson said. 

First-year creative writing student Emiley Anderson said campus renovations are “important.”

“It does interfere with my, like, traveling, because I do have to go in [the Cade] building,” Anderson said. “But I know the layout, so it’s fine with me. And as long as it looks fine, and it’s safe, then it’s OK.”

The college will also swap the white fences surrounding the quad with bronze replacements that match the surrounding area better, Dawson said. Cracked concrete and capstones around the quad also will be repaired. 

First-year art student Emma Eschenburg said the repairs are “definitely a good thing because I think the stairs are definitely … needing it.”

The college also will install a new rain garden, which will include plants and drainage pipes, in front of the Florestano building. 

“It tends to stay kind of wet in that area,” Dawson explained. “So we’re going to change that out to a rain garden and put drainage that will take the water out of the area and send it on into the woods.”

The college awarded the contract for the repairs, which will cost approximately $635,000, to the contractor Keller Brothers from Mount Airy. 

The project’s funding comes from county allocations for campus improvements and repairs.