This morning marked the beginning of construction on the University’s East Campus Residence Hall on 15th Avenue and Moss Street as President Richard Lariviere used a backhoe to lift the ceremonial first shovel of dirt.
“I would like to welcome you all to a groundbreaking, not just for a building, but for an idea and a practice of how we approach education,” Vice President of Student Affairs Robin Holmes announced, kicking off the groundbreaking ceremony for the ECRH.
Holmes served as the event’s moderator, introducing distinguished guests like Lariviere and State Representatives Nancy Nathanson and Phil Barhhart, all of whom took their turns at the podium to talk briefly about their involvement in the residence hall project.
Before Lariviere mounted the waiting John Deere backhoe and scooped the first of many bucket loads of dirt, Holmes presented him with a necessary safety feature appropriate for any stylish president; a hard hat fedora to complement his suit jacket and black leather shoes.
“This project is an important step to upgrade the residence hall experience,” Lariviere said, “and to fulfill our mission to the public and state of Oregon.”
Mark Foster, the hall’s architect from ZGF Architects of Portland, also attended, along with ASUO President Amelie Rousseau and Bob Simonton, Oregon University System’s assistant vice chancellor for capital programs.
The 454-bed, 185,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art residence hall is slated for completion in July 2012, and will be a unique addition to the eight already existing cookie cutter complexes 16.9 percent of University students called home in 2009.
The ECRH is the first housing complex built since the Living Learning Center opened in 2006 and only the second in 40 years.
Barnhart spoke about how the building is being financed through up to $75 million in bonds, as approved by the Oregon State Legislature this year in Senate Bill 5564, and will be paid back by the hall’s residents.
“Students are paying for (this) building, so the room and board charges have to include the bond charges and interest rates,” Barnhart said.
Gregg Lobisser, head of the Campus Planning Committee, said the new building’s design will move away from conventional double-roomed corridor-style halls and will include a variety of living facilities, including multipurpose classrooms, a 300-seat performance center, lounges, and a 190-seat dining hall.
This kind of multipurpose space, Lobisser says, will make for a “more seamless transition between classroom, learning, and residential life.”
University officials involved with the project have used the hall’s construction to help meet several of the school’s long-term goals, including increasing the percent of undergraduates housed on campus and boosting the University’s total enrollment from 22,400 to 24,000 students.
According to Kelly McIver, University Housing marketing manager, ECRH’s financial projections were made “with (student housing) rates comparable to those at Barnhart Hall.”
“The individual room sizes and amenities will certainly exceed those currently available in Hamilton, Bean, or even the Living-Learning Center complexes,” McIver said.
However, compared to the $27 million it cost to build the 385-bed LLC, the ECRH will cost $71.5 million but will house only 69 more students. The new hall will feature bigger single and double rooms than other halls, double rooms connected by shared bathrooms and semi-suites with three doubles connected by a shared bathroom.
At Barnhart-comparable prices, residents could be paying anywhere from $10,945 per year, the price for a deluxe double, to $15,696 per year, the price for deluxe singles with bathrooms. That means for the smallest double rooms in the ECRH, residents would be paying $1,356 more than the rates of slightly smaller enhanced double rooms in the LLC.
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