The greenhouse for Owens Science Hall sits against the backdrop of construction on the Lee and Penny Anderson Arena. University officials announced Thursday that mobilization for the greenhouse’s destruction would begin April 21. (Kevin Lynch/The Crest) 
A rendering of the exterior East wall of the Center for Microgrid Research. (Courtesty Director of Construction John Silva)
Construction crews will begin plans to tear down the greenhouse attached to Owens Science Hall on April 21, university officials confirmed Thursday.
Director of Construction John Silva wrote in an email to The Crest that Ryan Companies will begin mobilizing for the destruction of the greenhouse and the construction of what he said the university is calling the Center for Microgrid Research – Expansion Project in its place. The project’s completion date, which Silva told The Crest in October to be the end of summer 2025, has been delayed to a target window at the end of January 2026, Silva wrote.
Silva wrote that the university received Final Site Plan approval from the city on Feb. 26. City officials are still finalizing the project’s building permit plans, though Silva wrote that the university expects them to be complete prior to mobilization later this month.
“There have not been any additional challenges to date with these approvals,” Silva wrote.
The new, two-story structure will contain the new Center for Microgrid Research on its ground level, adding to the existing center housed on the third floor of the Facilities and Design Center. Ryan Companies is heading construction of the Lee and Penny Anderson Arena just opposite the Owens site on South Campus.
A new greenhouse will be built from scratch on the roof of the microgrid facilities, including an indoor lab, an office and storage space attached to the second floor of the science hall. The new greenhouse will be built by Albert J. Lauer, Inc., the same company behind the university’s two current greenhouses, greenhouse manager Catherine Grant told The Crest in October.
Silva wrote that the dates for the new greenhouse’s installation and completion may fall later than those for the rest of the project, as the university is still seeking more information about t
Kevin Lynch can be reached at lync1832@stthomas.edu.
