The U-M campus was also hosting hundreds of construction workers, currently performing about more than $1 billion in work, building projects big and small. The university has always been a consistent, major employer for Washtenaw-area trades, but there had been a lull in work until the past year or so. That lull is over now.

Among the projects currently putting the trades to work:

*The new $185 million Munger Graduate Residence Building, going up along Thompson and Madison streets. The eight-story, 370,000 square-foot building will accommodate about 600 students in an apartment-style layout. The building is being erected atop a former parking lot. Walbridge is leading the construction team.

MLive says this is the first time U-M has built dedicated graduate housing since the 1960s, and it's one of just two new dormitories the university has built in the past 30 years. The project is expected to wrap up this summer.

*The Stephen M. Ross School of Business renovation and new Jeff T. Blau Hall academic building next door. Checking in at $135 million, the project includes a comprehensive renovation of the Kresge Business Administration Library, construction of a new academic building, and the addition of exterior building finishes to Sam Wyly Hall, the Business Administration Executive Dormitory, and the Hill Street Parking Structure. The intent is to create a "unified look for the entire Ross School complex of buildings," U-M says.

Currently the new academic building is a big hole in the ground where the 1980s-era Computer and Executive Education Building used to stand. The project will add classrooms, study space, and faculty and research offices, and enhance non-academic operations. Walbridge is managing the project, which is slated to wrap up in the fall of 2016.

*The William L. Clements Library infrastructure improvements and addition. Located off University Street near Tappan Street, the $16.8 million project is serious about the "infrastructure" aspect of the work, with extensive foundation work for the 7,500 square-foot underground addition going on at and below the east side of the building.

Built in 1923, the library is said to hold one of the best collections of Americana in the world. The project will include the renovation of 17,248 square-feet of existing space.

U-M says the infrastructure updates will include accessibility improvements, plus upgrades to heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, plumbing, electrical, fire detection, suppression, and security systems.  There will also be exterior restoration performed.

The work, led by Phoenix Contractors, is expected to be complete this summer.

Some of the other construction projects ongoing on-campus are the $114 million renovation of the West Quadrangle Dorm, the $47 million renovation of the 220,000 square-foot George Granger Brown Lab building, a new $50 million nursing school, and the $55 million A. Alfred Taubman Health Sciences Library Renovation.

GOING UP to remove the protective coating from windows at the Munger Graduate Residence Building in Ann Arbor is Steve Stepp of Glaziers and Glassworkers 357. He works for Universal Glass.