Students, staff and faculty gathered in the main lobby of the new residence hall complex to celebrate its opening Monday.

“You just can’t beat that new residence hall smell,” NIU President John Peters said in his address.

The resident hall complex embodies the Vision 2020 goal of making NIU the most student-centered public research university, Peters said. The hall is supposed to be the “crown jewel” of the ongoing residential renaissance.

“All of this captures the living, learning environment of students,” Peters said.

Sophomore economics major Michael Wohlner, who will be living in the hall, said it is more like an apartment complex than a residence hall. Students will get to live in halls that are like clusters of individual rooms. Wohlner said hopefully this feature will boost the grade point averages of students by allowing them more privacy to study.

“You don’t have to walk to the library to go study,” Wohlner said.

Wohlner said the hall is convenient for students as it includes a gym, a food court and a new volleyball court.

Helping to focus the efforts of many companies and departments involved in the construction of the residence hall complex was American Campus Communities. The university wanted the residence hall complex to be a vibrant and safe academic environment allowing students to engage in curricular and co-curricular activities, said James Wilhelm, executive vice president of public and private transactions of American Campus Communities.

“This is not just real estate, not just a building,” Wilhelm said. “This is a student community.”

One community being established in the residence hall is the University Honors program. Christopher Jones, associate vice provost of the program, said 162 students will live in four floors of the hall.

Jones said the hall will strengthen the honors program and attract more quality students to NIU.

“A key part of our strategy is to recruit the best students in the Midwest to NIU,” Jones said.