The new residence halls on Sixth Street are scheduled to start housing students in fall 2011.
“”The construction progress is excellent,”” said Jim Van Arsdel, director of Residence Life. “”The project is on time, on budget, (and) those are the two big things that you always want in these situations,”” he added.
Construction continued during the winter break, so students came back to a change in view.
“”I would guess a Coronado resident, especially on (the) south side, which faces the construction, came back to a very different scene after winter break because there has been so much progress to the buildings,”” Van Arsdel said.
During finals week each semester, workers cannot start construction until 8 a.m. During the rest of the semester, they’re allowed to start much earlier in the morning.
Residence Life hasn’t heard of any serious problems or complaints from Coronado Residence Hall residents this year.
“”The noise can be a factor,”” Van Arsdel said. “”But the time I stood in Coronado Hall, looking out the south side window, I felt that as long as the student has a fan running, you can’t really hear anything outside.””
Coronado resident and family and consumer sciences freshman Megan Sosnick expressed dissatisfaction with the construction behind Coronado.
“”It’s horrible. I live on the south side, so I face all the construction,”” she said. “”There are cranes flying around, it’s quite a lovely view.””
Sosnick recalls the construction beginning really early in the morning in August. “”They started at probably 5 a.m., but the heat was really bad in August, so it’s understandable.””
When asked if the construction impacted her ability to study, Sosnick said that she has adapted to the situation and isn’t bothered by the noise.
“”It was annoying at first, but I don’t really have any studying issues now,”” Sosnick said.
Van Arsdel said that Coronado will close down for renovations once the new residence halls open up. Coronado will have pipe, mechanical system and plumbing replacements because of its age.
He said the temporary closing of Coronado will not reduce the amount of on-campus housing. In fact, the residence hall capacity will increase by about 300 students. Some public universities only allow students to live on campus for the first year because there is such a demand. When asked if Residence Life would ever implement this policy, and Van Arsdel said he would prefer to adapt with the growth of the university.
“”Several years ago, the UA was in a pinch with demand, so we tried to limit the number of returning students in the halls. No more than 1,000 people were allowed to return. The response from parents and students was of great concern, so we have tried not to do that,”” Van Arsdel said.
UA Parking and Transportation marketing manager Bill Davidson did not report any major parking spot losses as a result of the construction, which closed down the parking lot behind Coronado and the lot on North Highland Avenue.
“”The impact was far less than we anticipated,”” Davidson said. “”We planned for the loss of spaces, but we’ve also added new lots south of Sixth Street, so we’re in good shape.””
The number of parking permits being purchased has remained about the same, Davidson added.
“”The UA will have to house more people. There comes a time where campus must get bigger physically, somehow,”” Van Arsdel said.
