Apartment-style dorm rooms coming soon
Brock Sisney
Issue date: 2/4/10 Section: Campus Life
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Paul Stewart, director of facilities planning, says the cold temperatures have a bigger impact on construction than snow, freezing rain and sleet. During early January, while students and faculty were away on Winter Break, high temperatures were lucky to reach 10 degrees, let alone 33 degrees.
"They did work through some of the extreme cold," Stewart said. "But only certain trades. Trades like masonry and roofing had to pare back because of restrictions against work in colder weather. We do have some of the areas enclosed and heated, temporarily heated with a portable heating system, so we can do some of the mechanical, electrical and piping work within the structure."
Stewart says no claim has been made for an extension despite the bad weather. Rain in October and November led to an extension of nine days on the contract.
"There's a certain number of days built in for every month based on anticipated bad weather," Stewart said. "Each month identifies a certain number of days. January had four or five days. A contractor cannot make a claim until it gets past those days."
The Crimson Commons are scheduled to be completed by the end of July 2010.
"We are working on these five buildings at different rates," Stewart said. "We'll complete some buildings ahead so we'll be able to clean them, put furniture in and get them ready so we don't have to do all five buildings at once two weeks before school."
The five buildings, funded by stimulus money, cost $10 million and will have 205 students living in 53 apartment-style units. Connie Malle, director of University Housing, says these apartment-style dorm rooms are different than past and existing dorm rooms.
"They will generally be four single bedrooms," Malle said. "Each unit will have a common living area, a kitchenette with microwave, refrigerator and sink, a shared bathroom with double sink, and separate shower and toilet area. Each building will have their own laundry facility. A commons building will house the office, lounge area, study area, TV and kitchen area, as well as an outside patio."
Upperclassmen and returning students have rights on four of the five buildings. According to the University Housing Web site, the early signup process for returning students begins Monday - Wednesday, Feb. 15 - 17, online and Malle says the new housing will be available for contracting Thursday, Feb. 25, to Wednesday, March 3.
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