UMass Lowell breaking ground today on new 500-student residence hall
The University of Massachusetts Lowell will start construction today on a $54 million suite-style residence hall that will house almost 500 more students on campus.
The 148,000 square-foot University Suites will be located on Aiken Street, across the street from the Campus Recreation Center.
“Research shows that students who live on campus are more apt to be academically successful and the entire campus community is more cohesive when a greater percentage of students lives on campus,’’ university Chancellor Martin Meehan said in a statement.
Currently, 40 percent of undergraduates live in university housing, up from 28 percent five years ago, the college said. It has set a goal of having half of its students live on campus.
Meehan, as well as state representative Thomas Golden, Lowell Mayor Patrick Murphy, UMass Building Authority executive director Katherine Craven, and the state commissioner of higher education Richard Freeland, will all be attending the official ground-breaking at 3:30 p.m.
The building is scheduled to open in fall 2013 and will be the first residence hall built on campus since 1989, according the university. It will include four- and six-bed units, kitchen and lounge areas, study rooms, an outdoor courtyard, among other amenities.
The building will be constructed by the UMass Building Authority and Joslin, Lesser + Associates and designed by ADD Inc. Parts of University Suites will be built using recycles materials and officials are hoping it will attain LEED silver certification.
This is one of seven new facilities that are scheduled to open over the next two years.
Of those, a $70 million, 84,000-square-foot technology and innovation center is under construction on the north campus will open in fall 2012. A $40 million, 69,000-square-foot Health and Social Sciences Building is being built on the south campus to open in spring 2013. Two new parking garages are being built on campus as well.
The university plans to open another dormitory in fall 2013 that will house 510 students adjacent to the south campus.
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