LSU Residential Life completed its construction of Evangeline Hall in the Horseshoe and hopes to move residents living in Highland and Louise Garig Hall after Martin Luther King, Jr. Weekend.

The parking lot in the Horseshoe is closed and will remain closed for the construction of Highland and Louise Garig Hall. The sidewalks will remain open through construction. Residential Life has placed restrictions on construction time and volume of construction.

Evangeline Hall closed Spring 2015 with plans to be renovated during the 2015-2016 school year. Residential Life didn’t get the money for that school to construct, so they held the construction over. However, it briefly opened to house students, staff and others associated with LSU who were affected by the 2016 floods. The renovations began in 2017.

“I think it is exciting that we can take a historical building like Evangeline and maintain that historical character while modernizing the inside of it,” said Associate Director of Communications and Development of Residential Life Catherine David. 

Before renovation, Evangeline Hall was the the Science Residential College. While under renovation, students in the Science Residential College lived in Highland and Louise Garig Hall. Some of those students will be the first residents of the renovated Evangeline Hall.

“The College of Science does a lot inside [the residence hall],” David said. “I think it will be even more popular because now it does have the additional benefit of having a renovated building.”

Physics freshman Court Fuller said he wanted to live in the Horseshoe because of the Science Residential College. He said the rooms in Highland Hall aren’t as nice as other residence halls and the showers are cold.

“I was looking forward to being back in Evangeline for the spring,” Fuller said. “That was the payoff for me. I was okay with staying in Highland for the semester if I could be in Evangeline for a semester”.