So much planning and construction is going on in Fort Wayne, it's been possible to miss the significance of what's happening at the University of Saint Francis' two campuses.

Monday, the university celebrated groundbreaking for two long-planned projects on its Spring Street campus: a free-standing chapel, to be completed by fall 2018, and a renovated and expanded Achatz Hall of Science that will be done by the end of 2019.

Downtown, with more dust but less fanfare, the campus' parking lot is being upgraded in preparation for the fall semester, and more parking space is being planned just to the west, at the former site of Peerless Cleaners. Saint Francis recently acquired the building, which has been vacant for nearly two years.

At the parking lot north of the Robert Goldstine Performing Arts Center, greenspace and a statue of St. Francis of Assisi will be added. Access to the gated lot will be restricted to the east and west sides.

Trois K. Hart, the university's associate vice president for marketing, said Tuesday a lot of thought was put into whether the former cleaners building could be repurposed.

“We had many people through it on our behalf to make sure it wasn't salvageable,” Hart said. “There's just a lot of issues. ... The sisters don't take tearing down buildings lightly.”

Though the main lot will offer enough parking for downtown's students, faculty and staff, the space to be added from the Peerless site will enable the university to handle peak crowds during Performing Arts Center performances, Hart said.

The existing chapel in Trinity Hall seats 100; Sunday-night masses there are often standing-room only. The new chapel, Hart said, will seat 250 and will be located between academic buildings in the center of the Spring Street campus. “It will make it convenient for the students to stop and pray between classes,” she said.

Built in the late 1960s, the science building has undergone several modifications to keep up with changes in the discipline, but “it can be modified no longer,” Hart said. Plans are to revamp or add labs, classrooms and lecture rooms, with an emphasis on facilitating student and faculty research.

The $4 million cost of the chapel will be covered by the school's ongoing $22.7 million “Faith and Reason” campaign. The university has asked the city's Economic Development Commission to approve a $15 million bond that will provide $9 million for the science building project, $2 million for a new welcome center and $4 million to retire university debt. The low-interest bond must be approved by City Council but will not obligate the city or be a cost to taxpayers, Hart said.

There's another piece to the university's construction plans. Work also begins this fall on a geothermal system to provide heating and cooling for the renovated science center and the new chapel. The goal, Hart said, “is to be greener and use less energy” as well as save money. The school's soccer field will be moved to allow installation of the underground geothermal operation, then the surface will be repurposed as additional parking space.

“We're over-the-moon excited to be launched on the projects officially,” she said. “It's a very exciting time to be working with the university.”

Indeed, it's an exciting time to be in Fort Wayne. Saint Francis deserves credit for some of that.