Kate Galbreath
Daily Egyptian
Consultants and potential architects surveyed the possible site for the
second major development described in the 2004 Housing Master Plan,
setting the plan in motion.
A student apartment building with 100 apartments, intended to house 300
students, will be built across from the Stevenson Arms apartment
complex on Mill Street on the lot between John Stehr Field and Pulliam
Hall.
Director of Housing, Ed Jones, said that neither Stehr Field nor the
art and rock garden on the south side of the lot would be disturbed.
He said one of the qualifications sought in finding a space for the
147,000 gross square foot apartment building was adequate space to
build without disturbing the current campus arrangement or Lincoln
Drive.
"We wouldn't want to bother the frontage road," he said. "We wanted to
make sure there was enough space, and when we walked it, it appeared
there would be."
Operated by the University, residence would be offered primarily to
graduate students. As a part of Southern at 150, the University's
long-term development plan, SIUC intends to boost its reputation
research institution, which cannot be accomplished without recruiting
more graduate students.
If more graduate students are to attend, they will need housing, Jones said.
"We won't say it won't include undergrads," Jones said. "We'd like to
have students who are basically really focused on research areas."
Plans for the apartment complex will not be finalized until next year
and the details are still shaky, said Crystal Bouhl, coordinator of
marketing and public information at SIU.
Bouhl said University Housing is focusing on the Wall and Grand apartment complex right now, which will break ground in August.
Jones said that preliminary work is being done on the construction plan.
"We are working with some consultants and comparing what we do have,"
he said. "We have our own plan and then we have a consultant work on
that. We are trying to project what construction materials are going to
be at that time."
Bouhl said during the upcoming year planners will talking to students
in order to get their input and finalize the plan, which is evolving as
time passes.
The complex is expected to house students by the fall of 2009.
Reporter Kate Galbreath can be reached at
kate_galbreath@dailyegyptian.com
