PLYMOUTH-The Department of Residential Life and Physical Plant have several renovations for the residence halls planned to take place during Winterim and this summer, in addition to beginning work on the new residence hall this spring. Usually each year about a half million dollars has been spent for hall renovations, but in the past few years over $1 million per year has been used. Frank Cocchiarella, Director of Residential Life, says that life safety upgrades have been made in all of the residence halls and will continue to be made. All on-campus housing has sprinklers, and those buildings that have older systems will be worked on in the future. A major renovation took place last summer in Pemi Hall. All old windows were replaced with new energy-efficient ones.
Improvements scheduled for this Winterim include: installing a new ceiling and lights in main lobby and lounge area of Pemi Hall, and changing the front door locks of Mary Lyon and Blair halls. There are improvements scheduled this summer for every residence hall, including stripping and waxing all of the residence hall room floors. In Blair all of the doors, windows, and panels in the entrance will be replaced, and in Smith all of the showers will be replaced.
Mr. Cocchiarella says that students should expect to see changes north of the student apartments this spring when work begins on the new residence hall. This hall will house about 350 students and include 2-student hotel-style rooms and four-student, two-bedroom suites. This hall is scheduled to open in the fall of 2006.
After the new dormitory opens, Mary Lyon will be shut down for extensive renovations, including the repair of the heating system, replacing the roof, updating the bathrooms, new lighting, a new sprinkler system, new floors, and possibly putting in an elevator. The estimated cost for these improvements is 6 to 12 million dollars. Many of the ideas for improvements have come from students living in the residence halls. Mr. Cocchiarella encourages students to continue their involvement, and one of the easiest ways to do this is for students living in the halls to fill out the surveys available in the halls next month. In addition to questions about quality of living in the halls, there are several questions dealing with the satisfaction of the condition of the buildings.
There will be a meeting with engineers to study what will be needed for the renovation to Mary Lyon Hall. Students will be part of a committee either this spring or next fall to share their ideas. Members of both Residential Life and Physical Plant are continuously working to improve the quality of the residence halls, and they encourage input from students.