By Dennis O’Neil
Better food varieties, more retail options and modern housing may be in the future for students, if a plan for new housing on Floyd Street comes to realization, according to Housing Director Shannon Staten.
University officials are currently in the process of negotiating with several private developers and will not disclose their findings until a contract is chosen. Staten said that the benefit to student life is of key concern in reviewing the proposals, and that resident and commuter students should benefit equally from the development, which will provide an additional 1,500 beds to campus.
“By reaching into the community for some of this housing, we want to add better services and retail possibilities for students,” Staten said. “We want more students to come together over a common retail space or a common program space.”
Sophomore engineering student Tommy Vollmar earmarked improved food service as an exciting possibility of the project.
“Food services at U of L depend on residents to make their profit,” said Vollmar, a resident. “By almost doubling the amount of residents on campus, our food services will grow and more variety will be added.”
Sophomore civil engineering student Alex Frommeyer said he thinks this development could just be the tip of the iceberg in campus growth.
“This development could potentially push SAC renovations up and force the university to add more facilities,” Frommeyer, a resident, said, “such as a separate gym for students, more food service options and a larger DPS force.”
Staten said that providing more food options is a heavy concern in considering the building proposals. She also said that certain food options may not be covered under residents’ meal plans, but that they could still provide both residents and commuters more places to hang out around campus.
“Right now, it seems like all we have is a Pizza Hut and McDonald’s in the way of off-campus food options,” Staten said. “We hope that the food options that develop will come to benefit commuters as well as residents.”
According to Staten, this project was kicked into overdrive at the beginning of the fall semester, when the university found itself at 98.5 percent capacity with student housing. A Request for Proposals was then issued among several private developers, and the proposals came back at the end of the fall semester.
“It is our goal to increase housing by 1,500 beds before 2015,” Vice President for Business Affairs Larry Owsley said. “Currently, there are 3,300 beds on campus, a dramatic increase from the 1,800 beds we had just five years ago.”
Staten said that in the five years since these new beds were added, she has seen student life improve considerably from where it had previously been.
“Since there has been so much support from students for these developments, we would like to bring more beds in every two years,” Staten said. “I want us to continue to grow and build more of a campus life.”
Junior communication and political science major Mary Katherine Weber, who is also the Executive president of the Resident Student Organization said that new residence halls could greatly benefit resident students, especially when some of the current halls are in heavy need of renovation.
“Our current halls, without a doubt, need renovations and improvements,” Weber said, “and it is more cost effective to build new halls instead of fixing the old ones.”
Staten said these renovations haven’t been made largely because of a lack of state funding. She also said the current plan was to stop using older buildings, such as Threlkeld Hall and Miller Hall, as residence halls once new facilities have been built.
“We are considering the possibility of turning Threlkeld into a guest facility or an office facility,” Staten said. “We could still find a way to make the funding work, but we may choose not to since these buildings just need so much work.”
Staten said that the university’s negotiations should end in late January, and an announcement will be made about the development around that time.
