The Highland Dining Hall is set to be demolished this summer to make way for LSU’s first parking garage.The project officially started after Chancellor Sean O’ Keefe approved recommendations in 2005, said Director of Parking, Traffic and Transportation Gary Graham. The Board of Supervisors approved the rough design draft in December 2009.The building is now in the design and development phase, Graham said. Construction plans are being detailed, and contractors will soon place bids. The garage should be completed in spring 2012, Graham said. The project will cost an estimated $25 million.The renovation of the Pentagon Dining Hall forced Highland to remain open as a dining alternative. Issues with the architect and high interests in the bond market caused the delay of the project.The five-story facility will consist of a bookstore, a women’s center, an African American culture center and a garage space for nearly 750 vehicles. Visitors will park in the ground floor, while faculty and students will park in the upper floors. “The garage will help quite a bit with the Union, and students on the east side of campus and alleviate a lot of the problems of the visitors,” Graham said. Biology senior Hannah Gladden said the parking situation at the University could use improvement. Other students echoed that sentiment.”If you don’t park at 7:30 in the morning, you’re screwed. It takes nearly 20 minutes to walk to class,” said computer science senior Michael Thomas.Gladden said the garage will benefit students, especially because of its central location on campus. She said streets should be widened, as the garage could cause traffic congestion.The parking garage is one of the eight proposed parking projects on campus. The Highland construction  will be complicated and time-consuming because it is a multi-purpose facility, Graham said.Two of the other parking projects will be near the Residential College and the soon-to-be-demolished Alex Box stadium, according to Graham.The construction of the garage was part of the Parking and Transportation Master Plan to upgrade University parking facilities for students.Visitors will have to pay for parking, and the revenue raised will pay off the bonds, Graham said.During construction, the Highland dining hall block will be cordoned off but shouldn’t cause campus residents inconvenience, Graham said.”We try to maintain a good working relation with the residents,” he said.—————Contact Sumit Kumar at [email protected]