The Lobo Center at Lomas and University might be finished a few weeks early and under budget.
Bill Davis, senior superintendent of the project, said the project might come in under its $10.8 million budget, and UNM will probably get a refund.
Andrew Cullen, budget administrator, said the refund will probably be about $700,000, which will go back to UNM building funds.
Cullen said the deadline for construction is in December, but it might be finished as early as the middle of November.
The center will replace the UNM Press building, which was demolished in January.
Human resources, payroll, purchasing and accounting will be housed in the center. It will also be home to an expansion of the Speech and Hearing Department.
Alan Griego, assistant superintendent of construction, said the hardest part of the project has been dealing with people who will use the building changing their minds about the sizes and locations of rooms after some were built.
Construction has also been complicated by the confined space. Griego said most of the building supplies have to be stored in nearby parking lots and brought to the site immediately before they are used.
He said it has been difficult to work with large machines in the tight quarters.
Susan Carkeek, the associate vice president of human resources, said she is looking forward to consolidating her scattered department into the center.
"Our HR staff are in multiple locations now, so it will bring our staff together," Carkeek said. "It's got a lot of benefits for all of us that will be moving there."
When asked if she was looking forward to moving from her current office on Buena Vista, Josie Abeyta, payroll manager, said she had mixed feelings.
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"Yes, because all of us will be there together," she said. "No, because we will be away from campus."
Carkeek said the location will be easier for most people to find, even though it is on the edge of campus.
Carkeek said besides bringing together several branches of administration, which she hopes will lead to more creative and efficient collaborations, the Lobo Center will have all the advantages of a new facility.
Much of Human Resources is in an old sorority house, which although charming, has its problems, Carkeek said. The basement of the building where the main computers are stored floods several times a year during summer storms, Carkeek said.
Student Kelley Devlin said the Lobo Center will be more convenient for students.
"I think it would definitely be easier to have it all in one place," she said.
Griego said construction of the 87,000-square-foot building has used 1,500 cubic yards of concrete and 400 tons of steel. About 55 people work on the building every day, he said.
Cullen said part of a bond issue, financed by a 1.5 percent student fee increase in the fall semester of 2005, will pay for the center.
Student David Niemeyer said the building is a good idea, and he does not mind paying for it.
"They use student fees for everything, so it's not really a surprise," he said.
