DRC 3 new dorms planned, one on Eagle point

[OldTimer]

UNT plans two new residence halls

Officials expect buildings to be operational by 2007

07:24 AM CDT on Friday, August 19, 2005

By Matthew Zabel / Staff Writer

FORT WORTH — University of North Texas administrators are planning two new residence halls on the university’s main Denton campus by 2007, against the wishes of student government. Also, they are planning for a third on its Eagle Point campus by 2008.

The university’s Board of Regents’ facilities committee heard the proposal Thursday, and the full board is expected to approve planning for the first two residence halls today at its regular quarterly meeting at the UNT Health Science Center.

Administrators have just begun discussions of the third residence hall, they said.

Rich Escalante, the university’s vice chancellor for administrative services, is asking the board to approve building a 200-bed residence hall along Eagle Drive, next to Clark Hall, that would house students in the Honors College. Another 350-bed hall is planned at North Texas Boulevard and Sycamore Street, just south of the College Inn, which needs to be torn down, Escalante said. College Inn now houses older undergraduate students.

A student senate resolution opposes that plan and asks the university to build one larger residence hall at the College Inn site for both Honors College students and for upperclassmen and graduate students.

David Hall, UNT’s student government president, said College Inn would be much closer to buildings such as the General Academic Building, the chemistry building and the student recreation center, and therefore would be more attractive to students.

“The Honors College hall needs to be close to the academic core,” Hall said. “We feel the College Inn site is a much more marketable option that would encourage honors students to remain in that hall for several years.”

Hall said the site next to Clark Hall could be a good housing site, but some extensive parking studies need to be done first.

Escalante said the plan to build two dorms fits better into the university’s master plan and would create a better residential community for students as well as giving the Honors College more visibility when people first enter campus.

Students at the honors hall would eat at the Clark Hall dining room, which would create a sense of community between the two halls, Escalante said.

“It [the honors hall] would have a very unique identity there,” he said. “Having that relationship with Clark Hall is something we can’t replicate at College Inn.”

Escalante said the edge of the campus would be better defined with a building, rather than a parking lot, and that a building is more attractive than a parking lot.

The student life office, the provost’s office and the police department also weighed in heavily on the planning process, Escalante said.

He and Hall both said they have had productive meetings about the options, and Escalante said he is still trying to address the students’ concerns.

Regent Burle Pettit, who is on the board’s facilities committee, said he liked the proposal and hoped the honors dorm would help recruit more students who graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school classes.

“If we ever hope to get up a tier, we have to raise our average SAT score,” Pettit said. He said he hopes the honors hall would help accomplish that.

The UNT Honors College opens this fall as an expansion of the Honors Program, which currently has about 600 students.

Escalante also talked about the third residence hall, which would be apartment-style housing. It would be built south of Victory Hall on the former Eagle Point Golf Course and would have 400 beds.

Escalante estimated the honors hall would cost $12.5 million; the second residence hall near College Inn would cost $21 million and the apartment-style housing would cost $24.4 million. But he said all those figures are preliminary estimates and could change.

If the board passes the proposal today, the board’s facilities committee would have the authority to hire an architect and engineer to design the first two residence halls.

MATTHEW ZABEL can be reached at 940-566-6884. His e-mail address is mzabel@dentonrc.com.

[PlummMeanGreen]

Wouldn't a nice (curved to fit the north end zone) high rise dorm at our new football stadium be just what the doctor ordered?

Don't think that is what our BOR's have in mind, but we can always dream, eh?

[Mad Hatter]

All of those dorms add up to right around $61 million. Couldn't we just let kids sleep in the bleachers or something and use those funds for the new stadium? I mean come on! Let's think outside the box a little.

[ADLER]

"Hall said the site next to Clark Hall could be a good housing site, but some extensive parking studies need to be done first."

Can't they just save the money and concede that every parking spot close to campus is going to be taken on school days?

[ADLER]

All of those dorms add up to right around $61 million.  Couldn't we just let kids sleep in the bleachers or something and use those funds for the new stadium?  I mean come on!  Let's think outside the box a little.

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Please stop before someone decides to include them in one another 'involuntary attendants' ideas to boost attendance.

Edited August 19, 2005 by ADLER