November 7, 1997

Residence hall construction begins with groundbreaking

by Angela R. Anthony, Assistant Director of Public Affairs

After a long journey of what included focus groups with students, lengthy discussions with architects, and visits to other campuses across the country, the new residence hall will begin construction. A university-sponsored groundbreak-ing ceremony will signify start-up on Friday, November 21 at 11 a.m. A campus-wide picnic will follow in the Residential Quad. Pile driving will begin on December 19 and the scheduled date of completion is spring 1999.

According to Robert Reed, director of residential life, the building of the new hall and the subsequent renovations of Biever and Cabra halls, will enable Loyola to offer students a quality living environment.

The new residence hall will be seven floors and occupy 89,000 square feet. The first floor will be the common area space with a seminar room which could be used for classroom instruction. A convenience store and music practice rooms also will be located on the first floor. Suites will be located on floors two through five. The suites encompass two double rooms which will house two students each, a common bath, living room area, and two floor kitchens. The top two floors will provide space for apartments, a new amenity to Loyola.

Most of the apartments will house five individuals with private bedrooms, a common living room, and a full kitchen. Others are four- and three-person apartments. The new residence hall will house up to 328 students as well as an assistant director and three residential counselors.

The development and construction of the new residence hall, along with the renovations of Biever and Cabra halls, are part of Phase I of the project. The renovation of Biever Hall consists of study lounges for each wing, a kitchen on each floor, a seminar room, and a multi-purpose room. Biever will be decreased from a 411-person facility to a 392-student residence hall.

Following Biever's face lift, Cabra will be renovated and decreased from a 213-student hall to 136-person facility. As part of Cabra's renovation, the existing eight-person suites will be altered to accommodate five people and will be similar to the apartments in the new residence hall.

"When all of the renovations are completed, including Buddig (which is not part of Phase I), upper classmen, law students, and all other students will not have to leave campus to acquire apartment living, something we are unable to provide right now," Reed affirmed. "Soon, we'll have traditional doubles in Biever and apartments and suites in the new residence hall and Cabra. Ideally that means freshmen can stay in Buddig and Biever; sophomores, juniors, and seniors in the suites in the new residence hall; and other juniors, seniors, and graduate and law students in the apartments in the new residence hall and Cabra," Reed outlined.

He said students were involved in the development of the new residence hall from the very beginning, "We organized focus groups with students and asked them what they wanted in a residential hall. Some of the things they wanted was the opportunity to cook, additional wiring for electrical appliances, and movable, flexible furniture. We listened to them. We are currently looking at movable furniture and the residence hall will have more electrical outlets than the students can possibly ever use."

In addition to the student-oriented focus groups, students met with architects and gave their feedback on what they would like to see. Based on that feedback, changes were made to the originals designs, Reed said. Additionally, Reed said a survey was conducted of other Jesuit schools to see what they were doing to upgrade residential living. Similarly, Reed, Vincent Knipfing and Vicki McNeil, vice president and associate vice president for student affairs, respectively, visited Georgetown and Vanderbilt to view their residential facilities first hand.

The university's goal is to have 1,300 beds available to students, Reed said. When all renovations are completed, 1,301 will be completed. Currently, 1,053 are offered.

According to Reed, this is all part of a larger plan. "This is part of Fr. Knoth's vision to create a community environment for students. The new living facilities will help to develop the feel of community and complement the academic mission of the university."