Framingham State Breaks Ground On Dorm
The recession hasn't slowed down construction of new residence halls for state colleges - in fact, college officials are seeing an increase in demand for on-campus dormitories.
That's why the Massachusetts State College Building Authority began construction this week on a new, $47 million, 400-bed residence hall on the Framingham State College campus.
The nine public state colleges have seen an increase in the number students requesting to live on campus, according to Edward Adelman, executive director of the Massachusetts State College Building Authority, which manages the construction of all new residence halls.
Flurry Of Work
The Massachusetts State College Building Authority, or MSCBA, has been busy. The organization has already opened a new 300-bed dormitory at Bridgewater State College and a 125-bed dormitory at Fitchburg State College within the last year, Edelman said.
Under construction are a 500-bed dormitory at Salem State College and 170-bed dormitory at Worcester State College.
The Framingham State project will allow that school to slightly increase their enrollment and have more students live on campus, according to Dale Hamel, the college's senior vice president of administration, finance and technology.
The new residence hall also fits in with a series of capital projects the school has already undertaken or plans in the future.
The new residence hall will replace one of the school's current dorms, O'Connor Hall, and allow that building to be converted into academic space.
Construction crews broke ground on the new residence hall this week and it is expected to be completed in 2011. Once the new residence hall is open, O'Connor Hall's conversion will begin.
The college has worked with Einhorn, Yaffee and Prescott of Boston for the design work, PRA Architects of Cambridge, and Consigli Construction of Milford on the project.
Adelman, the MSCBA director, said the organization has been able to keep up with demand for increased housing because they are autonomous from the state government, and therefore insulated from state budget cuts and revenue shortfalls.
For each set of new projects MSCBA floats a bond to pay for the project and they use the student housing fees to pay off the debt.
Edelman said he expects to float a bond for the Framingham project in December, with an official ground breaking to be held in the spring. Construction crews are doing pre-construction work now.
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