SEMO regents approve new residence hall

A clearer picture is forming of how Southeast Missouri State University will deal with a shortage of student housing based on approvals by the board of regents Friday. University officials also gave an update on the feasibility of a hotel near the River Campus.

Regents gave unanimous consent for administration to seek contracts for architectural and engineering services for a 250-bed residence hall on the north end of campus. They also approved two resolutions stating the intent of the university to issue bonds to pay for $26.75 million in construction costs.

Those bonds would be separate from the bonds currently funding campuswide renovations. University officials say the cost of the bonds that will be issued for the construction of the residence hall would be offset by the revenue from additional student rooms.

Representatives from the Lawrence, Kan.-based firm Treanor Architects presented an evaluation of the site chosen for the new residence hall. The location north of the polytechnic building will house a five-story hall and parking. A tentative completion date is fall of 2013.

Regents also approved permission for officials to enter into a contract for architectural and engineering services for a Greek housing master plan and assessment of utility needs. According to university president Dr. Ken Dobbins, the university owns land near campus on which a Greek Village could be built with input from the university's fraternities and sororities.

Dobbins said the university would not finance construction of student housing in a Greek Village. The university will discuss how to finance construction with chapters and Greek alumni over the next year, he said.

According to Kathy Mangels, the university's vice president of finance, the master plan will be complete by the fall of 2012. University officials say a new Greek housing complex would free space in group housing buildings where Greeks live now and allow other students to have private rooms.

More student housing could come from a university partnership with a developer to build a hotel near the River Campus.

Dobbins began proposing ideas in the spring for a hotel on three acres of university-owned property on Fountain Street that would be an academic and commercial complex. The university would become partners with a developer and national hotel chain operator to build a multistory hotel that would serve travelers and house around 100 River Campus students during fall and spring semesters.

Mangels said a market study for a hotel that was requested by the university foundation shows the idea is feasible, based on interviews with local hotel managers, city officials and chamber of commerce members and research in regional market trends. The university will develop requests for proposals from developers that will be released in November. She said the proposals are expected to be returned in the spring and that the hotel could become a reality by fall of 2013.

eragan@semissourian.com

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