Construction is well on its way in the southeast section of Wichita State’s main campus, on what is part of the former Braeburn Golf Course.

The construction is for Innovation Campus, a vision of WSU President John Bardo.

The master plan includes a hotel, shopping area, a few ponds, new student housing, a parking garage or two, a bus terminal and numerous buildings for companies seeking an on-campus presence as part of a partnership with WSU. There may also be a new fitness and recreation center. However, not everything is set in stone.

“Master planning is kind of a work in progress,” said Eric King, director of facilities planning. “As conversations develop with administrators and businesses or whatever it may be, then we can come back and take a look and see how that might be accommodated on the Innovation Campus.”

The current construction is for the Experiential Engineering Building and Partnership Building One — the Airbus Americas building.

King said the Experiential Engineering Building is slated for completion next October and Partnership Building One in late 2016.

Construction is also taking place behind McKnight Art Center and in Clinton Hall. Those are part of ongoing renovations for the university, but not necessarily part of Innovation Campus.

“We’ve got a lot of things we’d like to do on the main campus, too,” King said. “In fact, this master plan kind of shows all the white areas are possible future additions, and we continue to renovate some spaces. You know, we’ve got a lot of work in Duerksen Hall, and of course we totally renovated Rhatigan.”

There are multiple aspects of Innovation Campus just starting to show progress. Part of the process of getting operations started is putting projects “out to bid.” This means WSU will hear construction costs from different contractors who will bid on certain projects.

Then, the university selects a bidder to do the construction.

Two projects go up for bids Tuesday: a new boulevard entry off 17th Street — part of a parking lot for the Experiential Engineering Building — and the first phase of sewer and water lines.

Wichita State has worked with the Wichita architecture firm GLMV and Wichita engineering firm MKEC to design and manage plans for Innovation Campus. Professional civil engineer Scott Evans, who works at MKEC, is designing plans for Innovation Way, the street and surrounding area off 17th Street Entry Drive.

Evans said construction on the pavement of Innovation Way and 19th Street will likely be done in August 2016.

Engineering senior Anwar Jihan said he likes Innovation Campus, but he is also concerned about how it will affect parking.

“The starting at the Innovation Campus section is good,” Jihan said. “It will get companies to come to WSU and help students get experience… [But] my main concern is if Innovation Campus will have an impact on parking.”

Parking is included in the master plan and will be worked on in conjunction with the buildings they surround. However, the dates of construction for parking garages have not been set.