On Monday, Oct. 19, the Office of Resident and Commuter Life (RCL) found out that students would be living in French Residence Hall for the remainder of the year. Prior to this announcement, French was expected to close in December for renovations to turn it into the new IT building. Students were going to be moved to various locations around campus, and RCL had already been moving around staff and making preparations for the shutdown of French in December.
Vice President for Facilities Management and Real Property Richard Bratcher explained that the project was originally planned with an aggressive schedule due to shortage of capital funding in Virginia, but the funds were transferred to Longwood last week, which allowed a more flexible schedule to be planned for the project.
Construction was expected to start during the spring semester, but most of it will now start in May. Bratcher explained that construction to the tennis courts will begin before students move out, as well as possible construction to the French Pool area. "It is not anticipated that this activity will create a significant disruption for the student residents," said Bratcher.
Any students living in French who want to move to a different room within French or want to move to a different location on campus will be waived the standard $50 room change fee. In addition, if a student living in French wants to pull someone from a different residence hall in as their roommate, that individual also does not need to pay the $50 room change fee. Students who moved out of French in the fall semester were also not charged the $50 room change fee.
A meeting was scheduled on Wednesday, Oct. 21 in order for the residents of French to place their preferences for the following semester. The meeting was still held in order to inform the students of the change and field any questions.
French Hall opens up room for approximately 30 more students. RCL move freshmen living in transitional housing in Curry and Frazer by utilizing the open space. Transitional housing is when more students are living in a room than the room was created for. For example, several double rooms in Curry were converted to triples to accommodate the students. The majority of French is designed to be triple occupancy and can handle more students moving in.
Students who do not want to move are welcome to stay in French for the remainder of the year, as well as leave their personal belongings in their room over winter break; an option that was not available prior to this announcement."I appreciate your patience in working with us this year. This has been a unique situation," Associate Director of Occupancy Management for Resident and Commuter Life Jean Wilwohl told the students at the meeting. She explained to the students that there were choices available if they still wanted to move out of French, but they could also remain in the residence hall if they chose to.
Vice President of Student Affairs Dr. Tim Pierson explained that it was more in just the timing of getting everything. He explained that they wanted to be shovel ready. "The process has been extended a little bit and they are trying to get the very best bids available," explained Pierson.
Bratcher explained that the construction project goes through a bid process in which construction firms can estimate how much it would cost them to complete the project. Each potential construction firm gets a copy of the plan, calculates the cost of the project as well as their profit, and submits that number as a bid. "On complex projects, the more time that a construction firm has to thoroughly review drawings and ask questions, the higher the chance they will submit a more competitive bid price," said Bratcher.
Bratcher does foresee some impact on the completion date for the project; however, he felt from a project management stand point, it made the most sense to push back the opening of the building. He predicts the administrative offices would be able to occupy the building sometime during the spring semester of 2013, if they chose, but it made more sense for Communications Studies and Theater Arts to begin using the studio in fall 2013. That would ensure plenty of time to have all the proper equipment installed prior to the start of classes in fall 2013.
"If there is any reason to believe that we could get through the second semester and not displace the students, Capital Planning was willing to do it," said Pierson.
"While this change in schedule is a win-win for the residents of French Hall and our project staff, I think we need to express our gratitude to the folks in Residential and Commuter Life. They have put in significant effort and endless hours in preparing for vacating French Hall in advance of the project start," said Bratcher.
"I think Longwood covered itself in the very best way it could … If we could keep the students in there for the rest of the year, that's what we are going to do," said Pierson.
