Plymouth State Moves Forward With New Residence Hall

Plymouth State University is about to break ground on a new dorm. The dorm, which as of yet is unnamed, is set to be built off of Merrill Street, next to the Student Apartments. In order for the building to be completed, several houses will need to be demolished, including the former home of the Health and Human Services department. Health and Human Services moved to the Mary Taylor building next to the Center Lodge on March 21. In addition to tearing down several houses, Toby Road will have to be moved slightly. 

Dr. Jim Hundrieser, the Vice President of Student Affairs, said, “The new dorm building is part of the University’s long term master plan to increase student enrollment. Right now, there is an estimated 4100 students. The university wants to increase that number to 4500-4700 in the next five years.” Due to the increase in enrollment, new housing is crucial.

The residence hall will be seven floors high, and will house up to 378 students. The style of the residence hall will be similar to that of Langdon Woods, where there will be a private bath per room. According to Dr. Brian Eisenhauer, the Director of the Office of Environmental Sustainability and professor of sociology, a floor in this residence will be used as a conference center. The center will be a conference space that can be rented out by the campus community and town of Plymouth.

Dr. Eisenhaur said “Part of the University’s goal is to make the building LEED Silver certified and ecologically friendly.” LEED is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, which is a green building certification program that recognizes best-in-class building strategies and practices. There are many aspects that increase a building’s standing including being energy efficient, water conservation, renewable energy, and using recycled materials. Getting this certification is difficult, however and the University will have to work hard in order to meet the high standards.

The goal is to have the dorm building open in time for the fall 2017 semester. However, due to two years of record enrollments, there will be temporary measures put in place before the residence hall is finished. Up to 100 double dorms will be retrofitted into triples. There will not be any more than four people in any rooming situation, and turning rooms into triples will be the norm.

The University will also rent rooms from the newly built Marriot hotel across from the local Hannaford, as well as other hotels in the area. For those students living in hotels, there will be a shuttle service to and from campus. Once the new dorm is finished, many of these changes will go back to the way they were. Building the new residence hall will only have a small impact on room and board costs. Dr. Hundrieser said, “The University is increasing room and board by only 1.1%. We do not expect it to increase more than 2%.” There will not be any other impact on tuition.

Dr. Hundrieser officially announced the approval of the plans for the dorm building at the town hall meeting on March 23.