A new residential college will open in fall 2012 when Kirby-Smith Hall is scheduled to close again.
Residential College North, located near West Campus Apartments and the Pentagon, is on schedule and on budget, according to Jay High, communications manager of Residential Life.
The $15.4 million building project will provide 358 beds for engineering majors and is the third of a four-building construction plan, High said.
The rooms will be similar to the ones that are already in the complex and have suite baths.
High said Residential Life took students’ opinions into consideration while in the design phase, and there will be more study rooms.
He said the fourth building of the project, a small faculty-in-residence building, is also being built under the same contractor. The first floor will serve as a lobby, and a faculty member and his or her family will reside in the second floor of the building.
The current engineering dorm is Residential College South, but when engineering majors relocate to Residential College North, High said mass communication and global studies majors will move from the Pentagon to the South Hall.
He said the floors will be divided by gender as well as by major, but there may be some overlap when it comes to the majors.
All international students will be housed in Residential College South, and High said the buildings are primarily for freshmen.
Because the new residential college is opening, High said Kirby-Smith Hall is scheduled to close next year, but it will remain available for five years if the need for additional housing arises.
“We want to meet capacity without exceeding capacity,” he said.
High also said a new building for student housing is in progress. It is still in the design phase and has not yet been approved by the Board of Regents. It is planned to be constructed on the west side of campus.
Construction workers begin work on Residential College North no earlier than 8 a.m. and High said they leave at dark. Notices of noise production are sent to Residential Life for approval.
Pre-pharmacy sophomore Stephanie Obilom said the noise doesn’t bother her in the middle of the day, but it annoys her in the morning while in her dorm.
“It’s a good wake-up call,” she joked.
Elementary education junior Angelica Chantlin said the noise doesn’t bother her unless she is toward the front of her dorm room.
“I’m kind of used to it,” she said.
But with the extra students living in the same area, parking may become congested.
Combating this are two new parking projects currently in the works, said Gary Graham, director of the Office of Parking, Traffic and Transportation.
The first parking lot will be located where the old Tiger Park currently is, Graham said. It will provide approximately 270 parking spots and will be gravel in case a parking garage is later constructed there, depending on parking demand. The estimated cost is $325,000.
He said the other lot will be paved and at the corner of Alaska and Aster streets, where a vacant lot and an old electric substation are located. Graham said the estimated cost for this lot is $210,000, and the lot will provide approximately 80 spots.
Graham said the projects are tentatively set to be completed by Aug. 1, 2012.
 
____
Contact Meredith Will at [email protected]