Grant Tower C will be reopened from renovations in Fall 2011.

The renovations began in Fall 2009, reconfiguring the layout of the rooms.

“The program calls for really a complete gutting of the tower and a restructuring of the room configuration within the existing foot print,” said Mike Stang, executive director of Housing and Dining. “Basically the rooms will still be on the exterior and the bathrooms on the interior, but the walls have all been removed so the rooms can be a different size and the windows have all been replaced.”

Stang said the renovations will be similar to the renovations made to the Stevenson Towers.

“There will be some additional privacy features in the restrooms,” he said. “It’ll be similar to what we did in Stevenson and in some way more extensive. It will be similar in the way that we’re using the existing footprint but really changing the interior so that it looks very different for students that live there.”

Also, like Stevenson, Stang thinks that students will favor living in Grant North, once renovations are completed.

“I think more students will end up on campus,” said Christina Donnelly, junior accounting major. “Most students living on-campus will want to live there because it’s new.”

After renovations, the towers will house less students than the original design.

“Right now, 50 students live on each floor in Grant. The plan calls for those floors to be reduced to 34,” Stang said. “So we’ll be reducing the capacity in some places and building in other places. We intend to keep housing 6,000 people [on campus].”

In order to house those students, new housing facilities will be built on campus.

“It’s a partnership that the university has entered with an off-campus vender that does this on campuses all around the country,” Stang said. “What will happen is they will come in and build a new residence hall and we will manage it. Some point longer into the future, it will revert back into university property.”

The new residence halls are planned to hold 1,000 beds within two buildings and have a community center attached. The thousand beds will make up for the reduction in capacity at Grant North.

The new housing facilities are said to start construction this spring and be finished by the Fall 2012.

In addition to the new residence hall being added to campus, Tower D of the Grant towers will also be renovated starting in the Summer 2011.

“The planning of it has been going on for many years, but the construction and the closing of the facility began in the summer of 2009, so in essence it’s a two-year project for the first tower. We’re hoping to move onto the Grant D Tower with a shorter turnaround,” Stang said.

Stang said the renovations of the towers will be a step towards making students feel more comfortable in residence halls.

“Many of our students have never shared a room with anyone or shared a bathroom before so they’re coming into a new situation,” he said. “We’re trying to provide more amenities, privacy and provide them with more space.”

Shunnie Smith, senior psychology major, said she thinks that the renovations will draw new and returning students to the updated dorm.

“Newcomers might want to live there because it’s newer and fresh for students,” Smith said.