Wesleyan under construction

Virginia Wesleyan College is expanding dormitory space on campus, exceeding 51,000 square feet by the spring semester in 2005. The additions to Village III will house 124 more students than current capacity by adding transitional-style apartments and row houses. The budget for this expansion project is $7.5 million.

These additional living quarters allow the students who chose to live in Lake Wright the ability to move into the new buildings first. Upperclassmen who chose to live off-campus will be next, followed by seniors.

“I definitely want to move in when I can,” said junior Cara Wehman. Inevitability, living in the new buildings will cost more. Each semester, it will cost up to $4,700 to live in the apartments or row houses.

The new buildings consist of a three-story apartment building and two sets of row houses. The sizes of the bedrooms are comparable to single rooms in Village III.

The apartments consist of four bedrooms and two baths to each living room, kitchen and dining area. The apartment complex also has an elevator, laundry room for each floor, and oversized porch. The row houses consist of three bedrooms to one bathroom, kitchen, living room, dining area and laundry room.

Out of all the new rooms, eight are compliant with Aericans with Disabilities Act standards. The rooms are wheelchair-accessible and have kitchens and baths tailored for special needs.

“In these transitional houses, the students will be treated like they’re renting an apartment, there will be no housekeepers,” aid Bruce Vaughan, VWC Director of Business Operations.

The construction company chosen was Cutler Associations, based in Massachusetts.
“We chose Cutler because they are a design-build firm that has a reputation for these kinds of projects,” said Vaughan. “They are known to be on-time and under budget.” Enduring two hurricanes and hot summer weather, the construction workers forged ahead.

Foreman bricklayer Bill Horton said, “We are starting ahead of schedule on this building, and we have six weeks to finish all the bricklaying.”

While this all sounds promising, rumor has it that they are behind schedule.

“We are still scrambling to try and get there, and we are cautiously optimistic that we will turn over the townhouses by our spring semester deadline,” said Vaughan.

At any given time, there are between two and 38 men working on site; this being in close proximity to pre-existing dormitories has proved to be problematic.

Susie Shupert, a junior living in North Hall, said, “We have to make sure our blinds are closed when we change, because the construction men can see right in our rooms. They always start at 9 a.m. on the dot.” Vaughan is aware of this problem and urges students to “keep their blinds down.”

Despite these problems, the new housing looks promising. “We listened to a number of student feedbacks, like single bedrooms for privacy and quiet study,” said Vaughan. “We can’t do single bathrooms because of the cost constraints.”

To construct a bathroom in the new facilities would cost $12,000. At that price, single bathrooms are out of the question.

“Half of the students surveyed said that if they can’t have their own bathroom, it would be nice to share with only one other person,” said Vaughan. “We really valued the students’ input and incorporated them into the design.”

In the new apartments and row houses, the amenities are all brand-new, and they aren’t cutting back on any expenses. There are a lot of aspects going into this project to make college feel more like home. “There was a cheaper way to go, but we used better products,” said Vaughan. “It’s like you’re living in a high-end apartment.”

The bonuses of living on-campus, like high-speed internet, 24-hour security and on-campus activities, are included.

“I was surprised to see that the buildings are directly in the middle of VIII,” said Shupert. “I used to like hanging out on the lawn.”

The former common area and beach volleyball court are being relocated.

Wesleyan is breaking ground with new Residence Life policies, starting with not having a resident assistant on every floor.

Dr. Keith Moore, Director of Residence Life said, “The apartments will have co-ed floors, and the row houses are single-sex by unit.”

Although most things are new, “we have gone through a lot of effort to combine what has worked well in the past while still listening to our students’ requests,” Vaughan said. “Within our price tag, we’ve given the best we can.”