Newberry College is building a new residence hall on its Newberry, S.C., campus.
The $3.8 million student housing project will be home to 76 students and three resident advisers and is expected to be ready for occupancy in August 2018.
The 22,866-square foot residence hall will be adjacent to Walker Hall, a student residence constructed in 2006.
“Construction of the new residence hall is a crucial step forward in fulfilling our campus housing master plan,” says Newberry College President Maurice Scherrens.
Enrollment growth at Newberry has stretched campus housing to capacity, officials say.
“With the combined effects of enrollment growth and retention increases, housing demands will soon exceed our current capacity,” says Sandra Rouse, Dean of Students. “We have implemented short-term solutions to help us manage, but the 76 new beds provided by the new residence hall will go a long way toward accommodating current and future growth.”
The facility under construction will be a three-story brick-and-cement panel building that is consistent with the style of existing campus buildings. It will feature suite-style, double-occupancy rooms arranged in pods of four, six or eight people with a shared living room, bathroom and efficiency kitchen. Multiple covered common areas and entrances will provide residents with opportunities to study and interact.
During the summer, Newberry also will spend $800,000 on cosmetic improvements and infrastructure upgrades to four existing residence halls: Derrick, Cromer, Kinard and Smeltzer halls.
The architect for the new residence hall is McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture, and the builder is Triangle Construction Co.