Future Ball State University students will have an additional option from which to choose when deciding which residence hall to live in.
University officials are in the early stages of planning North Hall, which will be located across from thea Studebaker West Complex on Neely Avenue, Alan Hargrave, director of housing and residence life, said. The residence hall is tentatively set to open August of 2010, he said.
Houses occupy the construction site for North Hall, but Ball State owns most of them, Greg Graham, interim director of facilities planning, said. There haven't been any complaints from residents about the homes being demolished, he said.
The university is meeting with the same architect team who built Park Hall to plan the layout for North Hall, Hargrave said.
North Hall will have layouts and room designs similar to Park Hall, but will be larger, Graham said. Park Hall houses about 500 students and is 164,000 square feet, and North Hall will house about 600 students and be 170,000 to 180,000 square feet, he said.
The university is configuring prices, but there is no set estimate yet, Graham said.
The Housing and Residence Life and Dining reserve budget will pay for the construction project, Hargrave said, and there shouldn't be an unusual increase in housing costs for students.
"There are certain kinds of accommodations that are more expensive to build," Hargrave said. "Four walls to one person as opposed to four walls to two is different. We'll try the best decisions to get the most bang for our buck."
The typical layouts will have four double-rooms sharing a bathroom, Hargrave said. The residence hall will also have modified apartments with four single rooms or two double rooms with living room space and a kitchenette, he said.
"We've been looking at the kind of housing stock we have on campus," Hargrave said. "We certainly want to have the kind of facility that students want. We want more attractive housing options."
Along with basic accommodations, North Hall will include a food emporium similar to the Micro Cafe in Studebaker West but that will be more open, Hargrave said.
Architects also proposed plans for video recording and editing studios in the residence hall, Hargrave said.
"We're looking at recording studios so students can go in and record videos or music and take direct lines to a tech center next door so people can edit," he said.
The architecture consultants created a similar building at another university and students responded well, Hargrave said.
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