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The new project will accommodate about 400 beds inside two structures connected by a patio area. WSU will build the yet-to-be named complex on what’s now a university parking lot at the corners of Huff and Mark streets bordered on the south by the Canadian Pacific rail line.
Richards and Conway dormitories will become office space, said Kurt Lohide, WSU’s vice president of finance and administrative services.
The new dorm project will relieve some overcrowding, he said. “Some students that we were tripling up in rooms we will put in double rooms.”
Because the project will relieve overcrowding, Lohide said he didn’t expect any net gain in the number of students living on-campus after the new complex is completed.
The two new four-level buildings will occupy about 130,000 square feet. Construction on the project is schedule to begin in April 2009, and most of the work will be completed by July 2010. The buildings should be ready for students to move in by fall semester that year, Lohide said.
The project will affect parking on campus. WSU began paving several gravel lots this year — adding about 400 spaces — because the new buildings will cover about 350 spaces in a current lot.
The dorm will be funded by a revenue bond approved June 17 by the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. The bond also includes $7 million dedicated for WSU’s planned expansion of Memorial Hall for its Integrated Wellness Center.
